Satcon PowerGate Plus solar PV inverters delivered to GCL Solar Jiming Hill Xunzhou solar plant

(15/01/2010)

Satcon Technology Corporation has delivered 23 megawatts of its PowerGate® Plus 500kW solar PV inverters to GCL Solar Limited for its 20 megawatt Jiming Hill Xunzhou solar plant and its 3 megawatt Yancheng Guoneng rooftop installation.

The Xunzhou solar plant is located on four hundred thousand square meters (99 acres) of hillside in the Xuzhou City Jiangsu Province. The 20MW installation, energized December 30, 2009, is expected to have an annual power generation of approximately 26,000,000kWh and operate for approximately 1,300 hours annually, making it the largest installed solar power plant in China. The entire project, from site selection, through feasibility analysis, project transfer, supply operating and maintenance proposal, training and final project guarantee, was completed in three and a half months, making it the fastest successfully completed build cycle for a project of this size to date.

The 3MW Yancheng Guoneng rooftop installation, energized December 31, 2009, will produce three million three hundred seventy thousand kilowatt-hours (3,370,000Kwh) of grid connected solar power annually. It resides on 46 million square meters of factory rooftop, making it the largest rooftop project in China. The entire project was completed, from design to activation, in seventy-five days.

“Both the Xunzhou photovoltaic power station and the Yangcheng City rooftop installation are technological breakthroughs in project construction and technology innovation,” said Dr. Gu Huamin, General Manager of GCL Solar Limited. “The two installations clearly demonstrate China’s increasing demand for utility scale renewable power production and its commitment to large scale solar innovation.”

“China is quickly becoming the world’s leading adopter of utility scale solar power production,” said Steve Rhoades, Satcon’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Satcon has developed and deployed the world's most widely utilized large scale solar PV inverter solutions. Our technical innovation and expertise provide our customers with the industry's most advanced and proven utility scale solutions, optimized in design and performance to deliver the energy safety, security, reliability, sustainability and efficiency required to power the world's renewable energy needs.”

“Satcon is a trusted name in China, having their first PowerGate solutions installed at Beijing’s National City Museum in 2003,” continued Dr. Gu. “The combination of their deep experience in delivering advanced, utility scale solar power plant systems and the proven efficiency and reliability of their solutions gives us the confidence to partner with them as we capture the huge opportunities arising from global photovoltaic power generation and become a leading photovoltaic power generation operator in the world in the next few years.”

“We are both honored and excited to partner with an industry leader like GCL to develop a total system solution that delivers the highest levels of performance and reliability designed specifically for the Chinese Utility Scale Solar market,” continued Rhoades. “The Xunzhou and Yangcheng City installations are the first of what we expect to be many projects together.”

The 20MW Xunzhou power station is projected to save seven thousand five hundred and fifty tons (7,550T) of standard coal, and decrease greenhouse CO2 emissions by twenty thousand one hundred fifty five tons (20,155T). The 3MW Yancheng rooftop project is projected to relieve greenhouse CO2 emission two thousand seven hundred forty three tons (2,743T). Both installations will help reduce the introduction of significant waste byproducts to the environment that result from non-renewable energy generation.

Related categories:  Solar power and photovoltaics