Schneider Electric 1- Division - Name – Date

Embedding quality in PV projects

● Pierre-Emmanuel FROTSolar Power Plant and Storage Systems

● Global Business VP

Schneider Electric 2- Division - Name – Date

178 yearsof history

€ 251

billionin consolidatedrevenue

160,000+ totalworkforce100+ countries

#1 or #2 Playerin 90% worldgroup sales

43% salesin neweconomies

€1.9 billion netincome+12% vs. 2011

€1 .15billiondevoted to R&Drepresenting 4-5% of sales

Globalspecialistin energymanagement

Make themost of yourenergy

Schneider Electric by the numbers

Schneider Electric is a world leader in Energy Management

1. Pro-forma basis including LTM Sep 2013 revenue from Invensys

More than 4.5 GW connected all around the world.

Schneider Electric 3- Division - Name – Date

What makes the RoI of a plant

Weather/radiation

CAPEX & OPEX

CAPEX & OPEX

Plant performance and availability

Plant performance and availability

Grid integrationGrid integration

PPA or feeding tariff

Most of the actors in the solar market have a short-term approach (1 to 5 years max). Only investors look beyond.

Short-term and long-term interest do not always go along well

Financing

$

Schneider Electric 4- Division - Name – Date (1) Renewable Division & Before corporate costs

Not the same time scale for all the actors

TOC to 3/5 yearsEPC and Project developer not

acting as IPP

15 to 25 yearsSPV owner, Banks

Make most of the supply and technical decisions

Generally limited to technical due diligence

Schneider Electric 5- Division - Name – Date (1) Renewable Division & Before corporate costs

Product life time

All systems are designed according to performance they shall deliver, the constraints they shall face and the time they shall operate (life time and MTBF)

Capacitors: film or electrolyte technology?Choice between CAPEX, and short-term or OPEX and long-term

Schneider Electric 6- Division - Name – Date (1) Renewable Division & Before corporate costs

Environment conditions

Environment in which equipment operate generate different constraints which need to be correctly managed – temperature range, humidy, rodant, pollution, salt …

Schneider Electric 7- Division - Name – Date (1) Renewable Division & Before corporate costs

Design safety margin

All systems should include a certain safety margin in their design as they may face unexpected conditions but market pressure may push suppliers to reduce them.

Input (DC)

Full power MPPT voltage range 350-800 V 430-800 V

Operating voltage range 250-1000V 250-1000V

Number of MPPT / strings per MPPT 2 / 4 2 / 4

Max. DC input current per MPPT 31.0 A 31.0 A

Max. array short circuit current per MPPT 40 A 40 A

Nominal DC input power 21.5 kW 26.5 kW

CL20000E CL25000E

Lower price per WThe more narrow is the MPPT window,the more the inverter is probably boosted

Schneider Electric 8- Division - Name – Date

Availability – the most critical revenue risk

Availability of the electrical chain is critical to secure the SPV revenue. The closest to the grid connection, the most it is critical. Service availability (parts, skilled technicians …) close by are thus a must have especially in remote areas.

● Regional Solar Solution Centrea,

● Offices & Service Centres

● Solar installations in the Region

Schneider Electric 9- Division - Name – Date

Availability – the most critical revenue risk

Fully tested systems are a must especially when maintenance is not available … as then only reliability can keep the availability on track.

Modular inverters – production curve

Schneider Electric 10- Division - Name – Date

Integration – the evil is in the interface

Many issues happen when electrically and mechanically interfacting the various parts of the systems together. It can generate short-term and long-term quality issues (fast ageing for example, failure rate …).

Cooling flow (mechanical)

Electronic componentsAt high t° (electrical)

Schneider Electric 11- Division - Name – Date (1) Renewable Division & Before corporate costs

Monitoring efficiently the system

To maintain the performance level of the system, it is important to track its evolution with enough details and to propely manage any deviation. This is in addition important to manage grid code evolution especially for large plants.

Equipment comparison Lazy panels

Schneider Electric 12- Division - Name – Date (1) Renewable Division & Before corporate costs

Upgradability – a way of facing new constraints

Upgradability is not by itself a quality parameter. However, it is important to manage change of the operational environment end eventually bring additional revenue.

Storage will be the next big thing

Schneider Electric 13- Division - Name – Date

Conclusion

Data

Local services and

parts

Validatedintegration

Avoiding short-cuts and extensive testing

Short-term vs long-term and not always more expensive

Priorities and perception of each actor