PD IEC TR 63292:2020 - Photovoltaic Power Systems (PVPSs): Roadmap for Robust Reliability

In the rapidly evolving world of renewable energy, photovoltaic power systems (PVPSs) are at the forefront of sustainable technology. The PD IEC TR 63292:2020 is a comprehensive standard that provides a detailed roadmap for ensuring robust reliability in photovoltaic power systems. Released on July 3, 2020, this document is an essential resource for professionals in the field of solar energy, offering insights and guidelines that are crucial for the development and maintenance of reliable PV systems.

Overview of PD IEC TR 63292:2020

This standard, identified by the number PD IEC TR 63292:2020, spans 40 pages of in-depth analysis and recommendations. It is designed to guide engineers, developers, and stakeholders in the photovoltaic industry towards achieving higher reliability and performance in their systems. The document is a testament to the commitment of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to advancing the quality and dependability of solar power technologies.

Key Features and Benefits

• Comprehensive Guidance: The roadmap provides a thorough framework for assessing and enhancing the reliability of PV systems, covering all critical aspects from design to operation.
• Industry Standards: As a recognized standard, it aligns with global best practices, ensuring that your photovoltaic systems meet international reliability benchmarks.
• Future-Proofing: By following the guidelines set out in this document, stakeholders can anticipate and mitigate potential reliability issues, ensuring long-term sustainability and efficiency.
• Expert Insights: Developed by leading experts in the field, the standard incorporates the latest research and technological advancements in photovoltaic systems.

Why Reliability Matters in Photovoltaic Systems

Reliability is a cornerstone of any successful photovoltaic power system. As solar energy becomes an increasingly vital component of the global energy mix, ensuring the dependability of these systems is paramount. Reliable PV systems not only maximize energy output but also reduce maintenance costs and downtime, leading to greater economic and environmental benefits.

The PD IEC TR 63292:2020 standard addresses these needs by providing a structured approach to identifying and resolving reliability challenges. It emphasizes the importance of robust design, quality components, and proactive maintenance strategies, all of which contribute to the overall resilience of photovoltaic installations.

Components of a Reliable PV System

To achieve robust reliability, the standard outlines several key components and considerations:

• Design and Engineering: Emphasizes the importance of sound engineering principles and innovative design to enhance system reliability.
• Quality Assurance: Stresses the need for high-quality materials and components that can withstand environmental stresses and operational demands.
• Testing and Validation: Recommends rigorous testing protocols to validate system performance and identify potential weaknesses.
• Maintenance and Monitoring: Highlights the role of regular maintenance and real-time monitoring in sustaining system reliability over time.

Who Should Use This Standard?

The PD IEC TR 63292:2020 standard is an invaluable resource for a wide range of professionals involved in the photovoltaic industry, including:

• Engineers and Designers: Seeking to incorporate best practices in the design and development of PV systems.
• Project Managers: Responsible for overseeing the implementation and operation of solar power projects.
• Quality Assurance Specialists: Focused on ensuring that systems meet rigorous reliability standards.
• Researchers and Academics: Interested in the latest advancements and methodologies in photovoltaic reliability.

Conclusion

The PD IEC TR 63292:2020 standard is a pivotal document for anyone involved in the photovoltaic industry. By providing a clear and detailed roadmap for achieving robust reliability, it empowers professionals to enhance the performance and sustainability of their solar power systems. With its comprehensive guidance and expert insights, this standard is an essential tool for driving innovation and excellence in the field of renewable energy.

For those committed to advancing the reliability and efficiency of photovoltaic systems, the PD IEC TR 63292:2020 is not just a standard—it's a pathway to a more sustainable and energy-secure future.

PD IEC TR 63292:2020

This standard PD IEC TR 63292:2020 Photovoltaic power systems (PVPSs). Roadmap for robust reliability is classified in these ICS categories:

• 27.160 Solar energy engineering

PVPS component and system reliability engineering works to define the PVPS probability of making the indicated value such as energy or revenue, also at a given statistical confidence level for an estimate. This needs to be assessed properly as an accurate levelized cost of energy (LCOE) results from identifying and acting on a set of quantifiable metrics based upon real measured data of actual plants under the widest variety of real site conditions. In many instances, the use of P numbers (which stands for "percentile") may not be clearly understood and as a result, inappropriate conclusions drawn which have a financial result. P values are used to establish the confidence that one can require to provide the assurance that the item will meet specification. A P50 value, for example, provides that there is a 50 % confidence in the value used in reliability predictions. This value of confidence translates to the median of the population or in other words, it is equivalent to a coin toss on whether the value is valid. It is better to have a higher confidence that the system will work to specification. For reliability metrics, this is typically defined as being a P90 or P95 values. This level of confidence significantly characterizes financial and technical risk plant availability.

The failure rates and mode become important for predicting future failures. In a worst case, significant wear out failures may be indicative of serial failures and attention is warranted. A needed caution is the components may have multiple failure modes and root cause analyses may be useful discerning the failure modes.

The LCOE calculations may not adequately include all the relevant costs, i.e. all-in costs, and risks which create further uncertainty. That uncertainty has a high probability of coming to inaccurate conclusions and choices.

Ideally, the owners, maintainers and operators should look for reliability issues early in the concept, system, and hardware and software design engineering efforts. Otherwise, the defects in software code and poor design or weak components will manifest themselves in a multitude of unexpected failures resulting in unwanted and unexpected risks and costs.

In addition, there is another issue that is a by-product of unexpected costs. Organizational angst is the result of not addressing issues at specification prior to design that in turn results in organizational effort, time, and expense in the solving of problems (often originally simple) that become quite complicated after the plant has been built. Because this effort may not be adequately budgeted, and places additional stress on the organization, it tends to have a negative impact on the human performance of scope and adds risk to the PVPS performance.

Without analysis of accurate field data and metrics, there are a series of negative results that include unidentified or unexpected levels of plant failures and degradation. Lack of ongoing (from concept to end-of-life project phases) reliability analyses, the results of inaction raise unaddressed costs, risks, reduced plant capacity and capability, and potential for plant derating. All these issues could potentially result in substantial negative financial impacts to the owners, insurers, users and/or operators.

Reliability of a PVPS requires a comprehensive approach to identify, maintain, correct, and understand costs. Some critically necessary specific gaps for the PV industry need advancement:

1. A standard way to define failure statistics for PV, for PV components and specifically PV modules where failure can be either catastrophic- or degradation-driven. This can be accomplished by a bottoms-up fault tree nodal model with further guidance on how each of the nodal distributions can be derived qualitatively.

2. Defining a common nomenclature of describing failures in the field so that failure statistics can be gathered and analysed (i.e., failure coded or word search capability). Further there needs to be coordination between the various stakeholders to standardize data capture in a format that allows for meta-analysis. Different levels of data can be used for different or enhanced understanding of reliability issues depending on available technology and installed capability. Improvement in monitoring is assumed but there is a need to create standardization criteria, and details on data capture.

3. Defining a standard for how operational failure data is classified, root cause identified, and reported to aid objective b) with guidance or criteria established or cited.

Reliable systems, processes, and procedures produce energy more safely at a consistently lower cost while reducing waste, unnecessary labour, unplanned O&M, and unnecessary organizational angst while providing additional actionable information to continually build and operate better, higher producing and safer plants.

An obvious concern is that the system appears imposing at first sight. It is not the intention that the effort be a greater cost than its benefits. The resultant specifications and design shall fit the business /financial needs of the project. The cost of ensuring reliability needs to be weighed against the costs of not ensuring reliability at achievable levels. The types of data and commitment to data collection, however, should be tempered while addressing the initial and future data requirements. The Pareto techniques allow insights to be gained on the vital few as per the 80/20 % rule (see 7.11). However, much data needs to be collected and this provides references to other documents that address data.