RENEWABLE ENERGY (SOLAR POWER) MINI

PROTOTYPE PLANT WITH SCADA SYSTEM

Muhammad Nashriq bin Mohd Haris

BEKP

MAY 2010

“ I hereby declare that I have read through this report entitle “Renewable Energy (Solar

Power) Mini Prototype Plant with SCADA System” and found that it has comply the

partial fulfillment for awarding the degree of Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Industrial

Power)”

Signature : .......................................................

Supervisor’s Name : MR. MASLAN BIN ZAINON

Date : 12th

MAY 2010

RENEWABLE ENERGY (SOLAR POWER) MINI PROTOTYPE PLANT WITH

SCADA SYSTEM

MUHAMMAD NASHRIQ BIN MOHD HARIS

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Electrical Engineering (Industrial Power)

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

2010

I declare that this report entitle “Renewable Energy (Solar Power) Mini Prototype Plant

with SCADA System” is the result of my own research except as cited in the references.

The report has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in

candidature of any other degree.

Signature : ...........................................................

Name : MUHAMMAD NASHRIQ BIN MOHD HARIS

Date : 12th

MAY 2010

To my beloved mother and father

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to express my thankfulness and gratitude to Allah

S.W.T who has given me inspiration and strength for me to complete this progress report.

Besides, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Mr. Maslan

bin Zainon, for give me a lot of encouragement, guidance critics and support to accomplish

this progress report. I also would like to show my appreciation to all my lectures and

technical staffs that have taught me with strong theories especially in electrical subjects to

fulfil the requirement of this project.

Furthermore, I would like to thank my friends and fellow classmates for sharing

and discussing knowledge and ideas to give me the inspiration in completed this report.

Their supports, opinions, and advises will be not forgotten. Not forget to technicians in

UTeM that have spent their time to explain and help me in this project.

Finally I want to express my sincere appreciation to my beloved family who giving

me full of support and encouragement to finish this report.

iii

ABSTRACT

This project is focusing on the designing and constructing an attractive prototype

solar power plant for teaching and learning kit. The aim of this project is to give people

especially student the overview of operations of solar power plant in generating electricity

in attractive way. Through this approach, people will be more interested to learn about the

operation of solar power plant and at the same time this renewable energy can be

implemented widely in this country. This prototype will be implemented with Supervisory

Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor and control the solar prototype

plant. User or operator can observe the actual operation of solar power plant in graphical

method through the PC. DC and AC load switching is implemented through SCADA

system. In this project, programmable logic controller (PLC) will be used to interface

between hardware parts and software parts. Solar prototype plant is basically consisting of

solar photovoltaic panel, charge controller, rechargeable battery, power inverter, SCADA

software and PLC.

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ABSTRAK

Projek ini tertumpu kepada rekaan dan penghasilan sebuah janakuasa solar

prototaip sebagai bahan pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Matlamad projek ini adalah untuk

memberikan masyarakat terutamanya para pelajar mengenai gambaran operasi sebuah

janakuasa solar dalam cara yang lebih menarik dan berkesan. Melalui pendekatan ini,

mereka akan lebih berminat untuk mempelajari mengenai operasi janakuasa solar di

samping dapat memperluaskan penggunaan tenaga solar di negara ini. Prototaip ini akan

menggunakan system SCADA untuk memantau dan mengawal sistem prototaip ini.

Pengguna atau pemerhati dapat memerhati sistem sebenar janakuasa solar dalam bentuk

grafik melalui komputer. Penyambung dan pemutus litar bagi beban DC dan AC telah

diaplikasikan di dalam sistem SCADA. Dalam projek ini, PLC akan bertindak sebagai

medium penghubung antara bahagian perkakasan dan bahagian perisian. Prototaip

janakuasa solar ini secara asasnya mengandungi panel solar PV, pengawal caj, bateri cas

semula, penyongsang kuasa, perisian SCADA dan PLC.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

ACKOWLDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABSTRAK iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATION xi

LIST OF APPENDICES xii

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Overview of Project Background 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 Project Objectives 2

1.4 Project Scope 3

1.5 Project Outline 3

2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND 4

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Solar Module Monitoring Expert 4

System for PV System Model Design

2.2 5 kW Grid Connected Photovoltaic 8

2.3 Grid Connected and Building 9

Integrated Photovoltaic: Application

Status & Prospect for Malaysia

2.4 Conclusion on Literature Review 10

2.5 Theoretical Background 11

vi

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

2.5.1 Solar Photovoltaic Panel 11

2.5.2 Charge Controller Circuit 13

2.5.3 Power Inverter 17

2.5.4 Programmable Logic Controller 18

2.5.4 Supervisory Control and Data 19

Acquisition System (SCADA)

3 PROJECT METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Overview 20

3.2 Project Planning 20

3.3 Project Flowchart 23

3.4 Phase 1 24

3.5 Phase 2 25

3.6 Phase 3 27

3.7 Phase 4 31

3.7.1 CX-Designer 33

4 PROJECT RESULT AND DISCUSSION 35

4.1 Overview 35

4.2 Analysis of PV Module 35

4.3 Simulation 39

4.3.1 Charge Controller Simulation 39

4.3.2 Power Inverter Simulation 40

4.4 Hardware 41

4.4.1 Charge Controller Hardware 41

4.4.2 Power Inverter Hardware 45

4.5 Software 46

4.5.1 CX-Designer 46

4.5.2 CX-Programmer 47

4.6 Solar Power Mini Prototype Plant with 49

SCADA System

vii

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 51

5.1 Conclusion 51

5.2 Recommendation 52

REFERENCES 53

APPENDICES 54

viii

LIST OF TABLE

TABLE TITLE PAGE

2.1 Specification of PV Module 4

3.1 Project Planning Schedule 20

4.1 Effect of PV Orientation Angle on Output PV Module 35

4.2 Effect of Time on Output PV Module 37

4.3 Input and Output Voltage for Charge Controller 44

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

2.1 Sample Data of Solar Radiation for a Week 5

2.2 Sample Data of Ambient Temperature for a Week 5

2.3 System’s Block Diagram 7

2.4 Microsystem Architecture 7

2.5 Block Diagram of Typical PV Utility Grid Interconnection 8

2.6 Silicon Semiconductor Structure 12

2.7 NPN Junction 12

2.8 Semiconductor Depletion Region Formations 13

2.9 10A Charge Controller Circuit Diagram 14

2.10 1A Charge Controller Circuit Diagram 15

2.11 12V dc to 240V ac Inverter Circuit Diagram 18

3.1 Flow of Project Execution 21

3.2 Flow of Project Execution (continued) 22

3.3 Project Flow Graph 23

3.4 Project Flow Graph (continued) 24

3.5 10A Charge Controller Simulation Circuit 26

3.6 Power Inverter Simulation Circuit 26

3.7 PCB Design for Charge Controller Circuit 27

3.8 PCB Design for Power Inverter Circuit 28

3.9 Steps in PCB Etching Process 28

3.10 Charge Controller Circuit on PCB 29

3.11 Power Inverter Circuit on PCB 29

3.12 Soldering the Components 30

3.13 Charge Controller Circuit 30

3.14 Inverter Circuit 30

3.15 1A Charge Controller Circuit 31

3.16 Software Implementation 32

x

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

3.17 Project Property Setting 33

3.18 System Setting Window 34

4.1 Graph Effect of PV Orientation Angle on Output Power 36

PV Module

4.2 Graph Effect of Time on Output PV Module 38

4.3. Voltage Output Simulation For Charge Controller 39

4.4 Current Output Simulation For Charge Controller 39

4.5 Voltage And Current Output Simulation of Power Inverter 40

4.6 10A Charge Controller Hardware 41

4.7 1A Charge Controller Hardware 43

4.8 Power Inverter Hardware 45

4.9 DC Load Switch Button On 46

4.10 DC Load Switch Button Off 47

4.11 Ladder Diagram (DC Load Off) 48

4.12 Ladder Diagram (DC Load On) 48

4.13 Overall View Solar Power Mini Prototype Plant 49

4.14 DC Load (Motor) On 49

4.15 AC Load (Lamp) On 49

4.16 Connecting Hardware to CJ1G PLC 50

4.17 Control DC Load Switching Through PC 50

xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

PV - Photovoltaic

C - Capacitor

R - Resistor

D - Diode

Q - Transistor

T - Transformer

V - Voltage

I - Current

LED - Light Emitting Diode

GUI - Graphical User Interface

MPPT - Maximum Power Point Tracker

AC - Alternating Current

DC - Direct Current

PLC - Programmable Logic Controller

SCADA - Supervisory control and data acquisition

I/O - Input/ Output

RTU - Remote Terminal Unit

FYP - Final Year Project

UTeM - Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

xii

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Gantt Chart 55

B B1: 12V dc, 10A Charge Controller Circuit 57

B2: 12V dc, 1A Charge Controller Circuit 58

B3: Power Inverter Circuit 59

C Datasheet of Components 60

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will discuss the background of solar renewable energy and solar power

plant, the aims and specified objectives of the project, project scope and problem

statements. The project outline is also listed at the end of this chapter.

1.1 Project Background

In today's climate of growing energy needs and increasing environmental concern,

alternatives to the use of non-renewable and polluting fossil fuels have to be investigated.

One such alternative is solar energy. Nowadays, solar applications are widely use in

developed country such as United State and most of country in Europe. In Malaysia, solar

energy has opportunity to develop since this country has high sun radiation and this

condition can be used to convert solar energy into electricity. With proper study about the

operations of solar power plant, electricity can be generated by solar energy as a back up to

the ordinary or non-renewable source of energy such as diesel, steam and coal power plant.

An attractive approach need to be exposed especially to students. With certain approach

that is attracting and interesting, students will be more interested to learn and understand

the operations of solar power plant. This project will focus on the design and development

of a prototype of solar power plant system. This prototype will be implemented with

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system and Programmable Logic

Controller (PLC) to monitor and control solar prototype power plant in graphical. This

method can gives more attractive to students in learn about the solar power plant

operations.

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1.2 Problem Statement

Solar energy is a part of a widely recognized renewable energy sources. The solar

energy source is free of cost and clean energy whereby environmental impacts are

negligible. In tropical countries like Malaysia, potential in solar energy is developing but

still has not been implemented widely especially in teaching and learning applications.

This problem is due to lack of knowledge among people and students especially in

operation of solar power plants. At the same time people are not aware about the

importance of solar energy in future.

Most of students will prefer to something attractive rather than just theory and

formulae. Solar prototype plant for educational can be implemented with SCADA system

which will attracts student to learn and understand the operations of solar power plant. All

systems need to be monitored and controlled to make sure the system is running steadily.

Same with solar power plant system itself. The system need to be stabilized in order to

prevent any interruption that will cause to many problems such as unstable power supply

and power cut out. These problems can be overcomed with proper monitoring and

controlling system.

1.3 Project Objective:

The objectives of this project are:

to analyze and understand the operations of solar power plant system.

to design and develop power plant prototype for teaching and learning based on solar

energy.

to design SCADA system and control (on/off) DC load in solar power plant system.

to explore solar renewable energy as an alternative to support electricity generations.

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1.4 Project Scope:

In order to achieve the objective of the project, there are several scope has been

specified.

The scope of this project includes:

This prototype power plant is for teaching and learning kit.

12V, 2.4Watt Solar PV Panel.

Charge controller rating current up to 1A.

Rechargeable battery 12V, 1.2Ah.

Power Inverter (12Vdc – 240ac)

SCADA software and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)

1.5 Project Outline

Chapter 1 represents the introduction part, project background, problem statement,

project objectives, project scopes, and project outline. Chapter 2 represents the literature

review part. These parts are including review on related project based on solar charge

controller, inverter, SCADA system, and other component. Chapter 3 represents project

planning and project methodology that will be applied in this project. Chapter 4 represents

result and analysis for this project. Finally Chapter 5 represents the discussion and

conclusion of this project.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Solar Module Monitoring Expert System for PV System Model Design

For a large number of applications, PV technology is simply the least-cost option. It

is important to determine the correct system size, in terms of both peak output and overall

annual output, in order to ensure acceptable operation at minimum cost.

Parameters require in order to accurately predict the electrical output of the systems:

Influence of solar angle of incidence

Influence of solar spectrum

Temperature coefficient for the open circuit voltage and maximum power voltage

Temperature coefficient for the short circuit current and the maximum power

current

Module operating temperature as a function of ambient temperature, wind velocity

and solar radiation.

To investigate the fundamental characteristics of the PV modules, the long term

measurement is ongoing. Table 2.1 indicates the specification of PV module .used for the

measurements. The modules are set with the slop of 35 to 90 degrees.

Table 2.1: Specification of PV Module.

Max Power 75 W

Short Circuit Current 4.75 A

Open Circuit Voltage 21.4 V

Optimum Operating Current 4.45 A

Optimum Operating Voltage 17 V

5

In addition the environmental factors, such as the irradiation, temperature, humidity

and wind velocity are measured at the same interval by using personal computer based

measurement system. In Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2, data of ambient temperature and solar

radiation were collected for every half an hour every day

.

Figure 2.1: Sample Data of Solar Radiation for a Week

Figure 2.2: Sample Data of Ambient Temperature for a Week

The earth rotates about its axis every twenty-four hours, therefore any location

faced to the sun about 12 hours a day. Hence, assume that the solar energy available 12

hours per day. In peninsular Malaysia, the average solar insulation is 4.5 kWh per meter

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square per day. Considering the available solar radiation, module area and angle, these

parameters can derive total solar energy per day as in Equation (1).

Sep = Itotal x S x [sin (α) sin (β) + 1] (1)

Where:

Sep solar energy per day

Itotal is global solar radiation

S is area of PV module

α is duration available for solar energy conversion and varies between 0 o<α <180

o,

15 ° per hour and also is a sun trajectory from the east and west.

β is a degree of PV module's angle, it varies from 0 o of the negative direction of

zenith to 90 °at coordination of north and south, east and west orientation.

The amount of energy produced by a PV device depends not only on available solar

energy but also on how well the device converts sunlight to the electrical energy i.e. the

efficiency of the cell or module used. The conversion efficiency can be measured by the

equation below:

η = ___Pmax____ x 100 (2)

Srad x Area

Where:

Pmax is the maximum output power (kWh)

Srad is the solar radiation intensity (kWh/m2)

Area is the total area of the cell or module (m2)

There are two parts in the system development, hardware and software. In hardware

part, all the data are collected by the microsystem before send to the monitoring pc. The

microsystem of data acquisition as related to photovoltaic systems gives comprehensive

support to the design of a PV system for general users. The system is not only limited to

collecting data but the system also analyze and remedy the performance of PV systems.

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Figure 2.3: System’s Block Diagram

The microsystem architecture uses a microcontroller to control and monitor the

data acquisition as represented in Figure 2.4. The analog part is composed essentially of

one adaptation and an analog multiplexer allowing the acquisition of many meteorological

parameters and the parameters related to the PV system. The numerical part of

microsystem allows the transfer of data between the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and

the data bus. The treatment of data is in real time in the microsystem and the transfer of

data to the pc is carried out through a bidirectional serial port using an RS232 protocol.[3]

Figure 2.4: Microsystem Architecture

The data are collected from real weather condition i.e. solar radiation, ambient

temperature and humidity. At the same lime, the data also collected from PV module

where all the output from PV module such voltage, current and power are recorded. These

SENSOR ADAPTATION MUX

ADC µC EEPROM

TO RS232 & PC

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two major parameters (weather condition and PV module monitoring) will be analyzed by

ES to evaluate the best PV system model for that location.[3]

2.2 5 kW Grid Connected Photovoltaic

Power supply reliability and power quality have become important issues for all

kind of power electronic systems including photovoltaic systems. Interconnecting a

photovoltaic system with utility, it is necessary that the PV system should meet the

harmonic standard and the active power supply requirement. Several utility connected

photovoltaic systems have been proposed. Among these systems, the most common type is

the parallel running PV with bi-directional power flow to provide unity power factor on the

utility line. In this system, an inverter connected to the photovoltaic array supplies the

power to the utility. Photovoltaics (PV) are the direct conversion of sunlight to electricity

by solar cells. When photons of sunlight are absorbed in solar cells, the photons free

electrons from the cell’s atoms, creating a voltage potential.

Figure 2.5 is a block diagram description of a PV utility-interactive system. The

PCS is primarily responsible for converting the DC PV power into utility compatible AC

power and for synchronizing and transferring that Ac power safety into the utility grid. The

DC to AC commutated inverter utilizes the utility voltage as a means of commutation

(turn-off) of transistor or thyristor switching devices.[8]

Figure 2.5: Block Diagram of a Typical PV Utility Grid Interconnection