Project: Develop a new photovoltaic Inverter with SiC full power operation at 1500V

Acronym	1500-SIC (Reference Number: 54)
Duration	01/03/2018 - 31/12/2019
Project Topic	The overall objective of this project is to develop a new PV inverter ready to operate at full power at 1500V panels with improved performance related to: - Increase power density, by operating from state of the art 1300V to 1500V. - Enhance light-to-power conversion efficiency, by the use of a new SiC (Silicon Carbide) diode technology specifically designed to meet the requirements of solar applications with 1500V panel. - Improve inverter reliability related to cosmic ray effect. - Enhance grid integration by increasing reactive power compensation while reducing impact on conversion efficiency. This new inverter will be validated in a full scale prototype that will be tested in a test bench with an emulator providing real operating conditions. In order to achieve the objectives described above, three European partners have come together: - GAMESA ELECTRIC, Spain, a worldwide manufacturer of PV inverters, will be in charge of designing and validating in real operational conditions the properties of the new inverter, which will integrate the results coming from the other two partners. - INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES, Austria, a worldwide semiconductor producer, will be in charge of developing the new SiC diode technology specifically designed to meet the requirements of solar applications with 1500V panel. - ETHZ-APS, Switzerland, a reference research center focused on power semiconductor devices and their modules, will be in charge of characterizing and optimizing the new power module, specifically the reliability related to cosmic ray. The exploitation of the results will be based on a non-exclusive agreement basis, in order to enlarge the project impact: - GAMESA will exploit the new inverter technology. - INFINEON will exploit the new SiC diodes technology. - ETHZ-APS will exploit the testing capabilities for components for large-scale PV installations, the know-how for advanced power module prototyping and the new testing protocols for power module testing.
Website	visit project website
Network	SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund
Call	SOLAR-ERA.NET Cofund

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Gamesa Electric, S.A.	Coordinator	Spain
2	Infineon Technologies Austria AG	Partner	Austria
3	ETH Zurich	Partner	Switzerland