CEA Task Force Report On Grid Interactive Solar PV - Jan'10

REPORT OF TASK FORCE
ON
INTEGRATION OF SOLAR SYSTEMS WITH
THERMAL/ HYDRO POWER STATIONS
AND
CONNECTIVITY OF SOLAR ROOF TOP
SYSTEMS WITH GRID
CENTRAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

New Delhi 110066
January 2010
Report of the Task Force to examine technical issues relating to feasibility of integrating solar power
plants with thermal/hydro-electric power plants and connectivity of solar roof top systems with grid
CONTENTS
Section-1
Report of the Task Force
Section-2
Report of Subgroup -I - Grid Interactive Rooftop Solar PV
System
Section-3
Report of Sub-Group II & III - Integration of Solar Systems
with Thermal/Hydro Power
Stations
Central Electricity Authority
January 2010
SECTION - 1
Background
1.1
A Task Force was set up by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy
(MNRE) under the chairmanship of Chairperson CEA, vide O.M. No.
32/61/2009-10/PVSE dated 28th May 2009, to examine technical issues
relating to feasibility of integrating solar power plants with thermal/hydroelectric power plants and connectivity of solar roof top systems with grid.
Composition of the Task Force is given at enclosed Annexure-I. The Terms
of Reference of the task force were as under:In regard to thermal/hydro electric plants
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
To examine feasibility of integrating solar based plants with

Thermal (Coal and gas)/Hydro-electric power plants including
issues relating to availability of land and effect of fugitive ash in coal
based plants.
To suggest the feasible options for type of solar plants (PV solar
cells, solar thermal plants) for installation at thermal/hydro-electric
power plants.
To examine the feasibility of hybrid solar power systems in thermal
power plants including use of secondary fuel firing or heat storage
devices during the period when solar power is not available.
To suggest scheme for connecting solar based plants with the
station electric supply system for thermal/hydro electric power
plants.
To suggest arrangements for metering and accounting for energy
supplied by the solar based plants.
To suggest modalities of implementation for solar based plants at
thermal/hydro electric power plants including preparation of project
report
In regard to solar roof top systems

i)
ii)
1.2
To suggest schemes for connecting solar roof top systems with the
grid.
To suggest arrangements for metering for accounting of energy
supplied by the solar roof tops.
As a part of efforts to rapidly add solar generation capacity under the

National Solar Mission., it is envisaged to identify and set up solar based
capacity in vacant land in thermal and hydro plants and this Task Force
has been constituted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE) to work out the modalities of integrating such solar plants with the
Central Electricity Authority.
January 2010
Page 1 of 7
thermal and hydro-electric plants and also the technical issues related to
interconnection of solar rooftop systems with the grid
The first meeting of the Task Force was held in CEA office on 18th June,
2009. During the meeting three sub-groups were formed as follows:-
1.3
Sub-group I
Sub-group II
Sub-group III
1.4
Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems

Integration of solar systems with thermal power stations
Integration of solar systems with hydro power stations
The details of the tasks assigned to the sub-groups, and their composition
is as under:-
Sub-Group-I: Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems
This Sub-group was assigned the task of bringing out guidelines on

interconnection of solar rooftop systems; one each for a commercial building
and an independent house; to the grid including preparation of connection
scheme, bill of material, specifications, metering as well as safety aspects.
The Sub-group was also asked to look into to voltage, frequency,
harmonics, reliability, islanding and other related issues with regard to solar
generation.
The composition of this Sub-group is as under:
i)
Sh. S.M. Dhiman, Member (GO&D), CEA - Chairman
ii)
Sh Puneet Goel, Director, Ministry of Power
iii)
Sh. M.K. Raina, ED(T&RE), NHPC
iv)
Shri Jitender Sood, BEE
v)
Shri CVSN Murthy, AGM BHEL , Bangalore
vi)
Sh. S.K. Sangal, ED, CEL
vii)
Sh. S. Ramesh, Chief Engineer, KPCL
viii)
Sh. Vivek Singla, GM NDPL
ix)
Sh. Alok Gupta, Chief Engineer (DPD), CEA Member-Secretary
Sub-Group-II: Integration of solar plants with existing thermal plants
This Sub-group was assigned the task of studying the issues related to
integration of solar plants with existing CCGT stations and coal based
January 2010
Page 2 of 7
stations including issues of space availability, type of solar system,

connectivity and metering. The composition of this Sub-group is as under:
i)
Shri S. Seshadri, Member (Thermal), CEA - Chairman
ii)
Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE
iii)
Shri Lalit Kapur, Director, MOEF
iv)
Shri A.K Gupta,. G.M, NTPC
v)
Shri R.K. Sikri, GM, NTPC
vi)
Shri Vishnu Gupta, G.M(I/C), BHEL
vii)
Shri M. M Vijayvergia Executive Director RRECL
viii)
Shri N.M. Mathur, Chief Engineer, RRVUNL
ix)
Sh. Sanjay Sharma, Director, CEA Member-Secretary
Sub-Group-III: Integration of solar plants with existing hydro plants

This Sub-group was assigned the task of studying the issues related to
integration of solar plants with existing hydro-electric stations including
issues of space availability, type of solar system, and feasibility report for
one of the stations of BBMB. The composition of this Sub-group is as under:
i)
Shri Suresh Chander, Chief Engineer (TE&TD), CEA - Chairman
ii)
Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE.
iii)
Dr. S. Bhowmik Addl. Director, MOE&F
iv)
Shri Vishnu Gupta, G.M (I/C), BHEL
v)
vi)
Shri Ashok Thapar Director BBMB
vii)
Shri Moti Lal Director , Hydro, CEA Member-Secretary
Deliberations of the Task Force

2.1
The task force in its first meeting held on 18th June 2009, constituted the
sub-groups as referred above and discussed the broad modalities to be
followed by the sub-groups. The report of sub-group I was discussed in the
second meeting of the task force held on 29th October 2009 and approved
by the task force. The third meeting of the task force was held on 8th
January 2010 wherein the report of sub-group II &III was discussed by the
task force and approved.
January 2010
Page 3 of 7
2.2
The record notes of discussion of the meetings are placed at Annex-II. The
reports of the sub-group I and sub-group II & III have been placed at
section- 2 and section- 3 of this report. The salient details of the issues
covered in the reports of the sub-groups are discussed as under:-
Sub-group I Grid Interactive roof top systems

3.1
The report covers details of the solar roof top systems including equipment
to be used, functional description, type of schemes metering
arrangements, software and control requirements, selection of cables,
earthing requirements, technical particulars of meters, schematic diagrams,
voltage levels, power quality issues such as harmonics & ripples,
compliance to regulations, capacity, area coverage, implementation
mechanism, islanding protection etc.
3.2
Various technologies for Solar PV systems, their relative costs and

efficiency were studied by the sub-group. It is seen that crystalline silicon
is the frontrunner technology having about 92 % market share. The
efficiency of this technology is about 15 to 23 %. Thin film technology
presently has a low market share of about 8 % . Various types of thin film
technologies exist with efficiency ranging from 6% to 12%. The cost of thin
film technologies is lower at about 6o% of the cost of crystalline silicon
technologies.
3.3
The report also gives the bill of material for typical ratings from few kW to
50kW systems. A model technical specification has also been prepared
(volume-II) which can be readily used by DISCOM/consumer.
3.4
The various types of metering and tariff philosophies prevalent in the world
were studied by the Sub-group. It is gathered that under solar power
mission Generation Based Incentive(GBI) based on entire solar generation
is being considered irrespective of what consumer consumes .This
generation would be treated as deemed export to the grid. With this
consideration metering arrangements have been finalized and it has been
proposed that wherever the battery is used two inverter scheme would be
better solution.
3.5
The report also indicates a sample calculation to arrive at the capacity of

the roof top solar PV system, battery and inverter.
3.6
A group comprising of officers from CEA, BHEL and NHPC has been
entrusted the task of preparing a feasibility report and identifying sites for
installation of solar PV plant at Leh and Kargil. Feasibility report is under
preparation and shall be submitted separately.
January 2010
Page 4 of 7
3.7
The Sub-group has also prepared a detailed project report for a 25 kW roof
top solar system to be installed in Sewa Bhawan as a demonstration
project. The DPR is available at CEA website http://cea.nic.in .
Sub-group II & II Integration of solar systems with

thermal/hydro Power stations
4.1
The report covers feasible options for installing solar systems in thermal
and hydro power plants including the technology options and the possible
areas of installation of the solar systems in the power stations. The prerequisites for installing solar systems and the existing facilities in the power
stations required to be shared with solar systems have also been
discussed. The feasibility of integrating the solar system with thermal
stations on the steam side and electrical side have also been discussed in
detail. A brief summary of Feasibility Study for Solar Thermal Plant in
NTPC -Anta CCGT station has also been annexed with the report for
reference
4.2
The issues related to solar radiations in general and source of data for
solar radiation etc have been discussed in detail. Various solar thermal
technologies have been discussed bringing out their International status of
development, operating plants and relative costs and land and other inputs
required. It is seen that solar trough and solar tower are the only two
proven and matured technologies available and either of them can be
adopted depending on the plant size proposed and site specific factorsland availability, its orientation, aspect ratio etc.
4.3
The options for solar generation at any power station would depend upon
the following:
i) Adequate solar irradiation
ii) Availability of land
iii) Availability of water (for solar thermal)
Adequate direct normal component of solar irradiation is necessary for
solar thermal plants. Normally a solar irradiation (DNI) of 1800 kWh/m2 is
considered necessary for solar thermal plants. Solar PV plants can,
however, utilize global radiations including diffused components. Thus
solar irradiations available at a location is the prime consideration for
selection of technology
4.4
About 5-7 acres/MW land is required for solar thermal plants. Thus
availability of large tract of continuous flat land would be required if solar
January 2010
Page 5 of 7
thermal is to be considered. When land is available in several scattered

patches, rather than a contiguous piece, then Solar photovoltaic plants
could be considered. Solar thermal plants require water for cooling tower
blow down and DM make up. Usually water requirement is 4 M3/MWh.
Additionally, some water is also required for washing of mirror panels and
requirement varies with location depending on dust levels.
4.5
In hydro stations large tract of continuous land are generally not available.
Also the hydro stations have no facilities for supplying warm up steam etc
to solar thermal power plant. Thus solar PV systems may be the only
choice for hydro stations.
4.6
Providing thermal storage systems involves additional solar field for

storage systems. It is not only expensive but would also require additional
land for the storage system itself and also for additional solar field. Thus in
the context of power stations, storage systems are not considered
necessary.
4.7
The choice of areas for solar plants in existing Thermal Power Stations
could be:
Open land areas not intended for any future expansion

Abandoned ash ponds in coal fired stations
Areas in existing green belt subject to MOE&F approval
Roof top of turbine hall (for PV systems)
Roof top in administrative building, guest houses, and large
buildings (for PV systems)
4.8
Integration of solar plants on the steam side to the existing station is

expected to be too cumbersome. This may also disturb the existing
thermodynamic cycle and involve issues of performance reliability of the
existing station. Thus, the solar plants in existing TPS may be considered
as a stand alone plant without any inter-connection to the steam side of the
station. However, integrated solar plants with gas plants could be
considered for new stations depending on site specific factors for which
site specific techno-economics and feasibility studies would be required.
4.9
It may not be advisable to integrate solar plant with new coal based plants
since turbine-generators in coal based plants are of standard rating and
there would be no increase in the power output by solar thermal energy.
4.10
Typical station facilities required to be shared in case of solar thermal

plants are as under:
DM Water
Circulating water make up
January 2010
Page 6 of 7
Auxiliary steam
Auxiliary electricity supply
Fire fighting system
4.11
Various options available for integration of solar thermal power with

electrical system of existing gas based plant have been discussed in the
report and electrical integration with the option of additional switch yard bay
comes out to be the most suitable amongst all the options. However, site
specific studies are required regarding the interconnection before finalizing
the scheme.
4.12
All thermal and hydro generating utilities should explore the potential of
installing solar plants in vacant land of their existing stations. Detailed
Project Report for the specific project would be required to be developed
by a consultant to study the feasibility of the solar power plant, technology
to be employed, generation projections, cost estimates etc.
****
January 2010
Page 7 of 7
SECTION - 2
REPORT OF SUBGROUP-I
ON
GRID INTERACTIVE
ROOFTOP SOLAR PV SYSTEM
Grid Connected PV Systems
AC BUS
Grid-connected PV systems are connected to utility grid. Energy generated by

the array is fed directly to the grid.
PCU
GRID SUPPLY
SOLAR PV
ARRAY
Inverter
Load voltage conditioning
Data logger
Local & Remote monitoring
TO LOAD
11

New Delhi
December 2009
CONTENTS
S.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
TOPICS
Page No.
BACKGROUND
1
CONSTITUTION OF SUB-GROUP-I:
2
TERM OF REFERENCE OF SUBGROUP-I
2
PROCEEDINGS OF SUB-GROUP-I
3
SCOPE
3
TYPE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR SOLAR CELLS
3
EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED FOR GRID INTERACTIVE ROOF
7
TOP SOLAR PV SYSTEM
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
7
PROTECTIONS AND CONTROL
12
CAPACITY CALCULATIONS FOR PV SYSTEMS
13
TYPE OF SCHEMES AND COINNECTION ARRANGEMENTS
13
METERING PHILOSOPHY AND REQUIREMENTS
17
VOLTAGE LEVELS
20
COMPLIANCE TO REGULATIONS ON METERING AND GRID
21
CONNECTIVITY
POWER QUALITY REQUIREMENTS
21
COMMUNICATION INTERFACE
23
MOUNTING STRUCTURES
24
POWER AND CONTROLCABLES
24
EARTHING MATERIAL
25
JUNCTIONS BOXES OR COMBINERS
26
ACCEPTANCE OF SYSTEMS AND PERFORMANCE
26
EVALUATION
SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION
26
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS, SPECIFICATION AND BILL OF
26
MATERIAL
LIST OF ANNEXURES AND EXHIBITS TO REPORT OF SUBGROUP-I

A. ANNEXURES:
Sl No
Annexure No
Particulars
1.
Annexure-I
Minutes of 1st Meeting of Sub-Group - I held on 15.7.09.
2.
Annexure-II
3.
Annexure-III
4.
Annexure-IV
5.
Annexure-V
Calculation for PV solar system capacity for individual

consumer house
Technical particulars of single phase 10-60 or 18-20 amp
energy meters
Typical technical particulars of Solar Modules
(160 and 80 watts)
Technical particulars of solar PV system-0.5 -50 kWp
ii
Page
No.
27
32
34
38
39
B. EXHIBITS:
Sl No
1
Schemes
Scheme-I
Scheme-II
Scheme-III
Scheme-IV
Scheme-V
Scheme-VI
Scheme-VII
Description
Grid interactive Solar PV
System without Battery.
System with full load Battery
backup.
System with Partial load
Battery backup
Grid Interactive Solar PV
System With Full Load DG
Backup
System With Partial Load DG
Backup
System With Full Load
Battery and DG Backup
System With Partial Load
Battery and DG Backup
Page No.
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
iii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.
A Task force was constituted by MNRE under the chairmanship of

Chairperson CEA to look into the technical issues related to feasibility of
the integration of solar power plant with thermal/hydro and
interconnectivity of rooftop solar PV system with the grid. This task force
in its meeting held on 18-06-2009 constituted a Subgroup-I to look into
metering and interconnectivity of roof top solar PV system with the grid.
The Subgroup-I comprised of the following members.
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)
viii)
ix)
Shri SM Dhiman, Member(GO&D), CEA -Chairman

Shri Puneet Goel, Director, Ministry of Power
Shri MK Raina, ED, NHPC
Shri Jitendra Sood, Energy Economist, BEE
Shri CVSN Murthy, AGM, BHEL, Bangalore.
Shri SK Sangal, ED, CEL
Shri S Ramesh, Chief Engineer, KPCL
Shri Vivek Singla, GM, NDPL
Shri Alok Gupta, Chief Engineer(DP&D), CEA-Member Secretary
2.
The sub-group met on 15th July, 2009 in CEA and deliberated upon the
metering and interconnectivity issues.
3.
The report is prepared with an aim to provide ready solutions for roof
top solar PV systems for commercial, industrial and residential complex
installations and individual consumer houses to feed full or part of the
house load. However these can be extended for non-roof top solar
photovoltaic systems as well.
4.
The following type of modules of grid interactive roof top Solar PV

system have been considered by the sub-group for various applications
depending upon grid supply availability and the redundancy the
consumer needs.
Sl
No
1
Schemes
Description
Scheme-I
Grid interactive Solar PV System without Battery.
Scheme-II
Scheme-III
Grid interactive Solar PV System with full load

Battery backup.
(Two inverter scheme)
Grid interactive Solar PV System with Partial load
iv
Scheme-IV
Scheme-V
Scheme-VI
Scheme-VII
Battery backup (Two inverter scheme)

Grid Interactive Solar PV System With Full Load
DG Backup
Grid Interactive Solar PV System With Partial Load
DG Backup
Grid Interactive Solar PV System With Full Load
Battery and DG Backup (Two inverter scheme)
Grid Interactive Solar PV System With Partial Load
Battery and DG Backup (Two inverter scheme)
5.
The report covers equipment to be used, functional description, type of

schemes metering arrangements, software and control requirements,
selection of cables, earthing requirements, technical particular of
meters, schematic diagrams, voltage levels, power quality issues such
as harmonics , ripples, compliance to regulations, capacity, area
coverage, implementation mechanism, islanding protection etc. The
report also gives the bill of material for typical ratings from few kW to
50kW systems as also a model technical specification (volume-II) which
can be readily used by DISCOM/consumer.
6.
The various types of metering and tariff philosophies prevalent in the

world were studied by the Sub-group. It is gathered that under solar
power mission Generation Based Incentive(GBI) based on entire solar
generation is being considered irrespective of what consumer
consumes .This generation would be treated as deemed export to the
grid. With this consideration metering arrangements have been finalized
and it is proposed that wherever the battery is used two inverter scheme
would be better solution.
7.
The report also indicates a sample calculation to arrive at the capacity

of the roof top solar PV system, battery and inverter.
8.
A group comprising of officers from CEA, BHEL and NHPC has been
entrusted the task of preparing a feasibility report and identifying sites
for installation of solar PV plant at Leh and Kargil. Feasibility report is
under preparation and shall be submitted separately.
9.
The Sub-group has also prepared a detailed project report for roof top
solar system to be installed in Sewa Bhawan as a demonstration project
which is also enclosed.
REPORT OF SUBGROUP -I
ON
GRID TIED ROOFTOP SOLAR PV SYSTEM
1
BACKGROUND:
1.1
Several cities and towns in the country are experiencing a substantial growth in
their peak electricity demand. Municipal Corporations and the electricity utilities
are finding it difficult to cope with this rapid rise in demand and as a result most of
the cities/towns are facing severe electricity shortages. Various industries and
commercial establishments e.g. Malls, Hotels, Hospitals, Nursing homes etc
housing complexes developed by the builders and developers in cities and towns
use diesel generators for back-up power even during the day time. These
generators capacities vary from a few kilowatts to a couple of MWs. Generally, in a
single establishment more than one generators are installed; one to cater the
minimum load required for lighting and computers/ other emergency operations
during load shedding and the others for running ACs and other operations such as
lifts/ other power applications. Under such conditions use of grid tied roof top Solar
Photovoltaic systems seem to be feasible solutions. Similar solar PV system can
be employed in rural areas on vacant land to feed cluster of households where
space is not a constraint and grid connectivity is not feasible as on today. The
implementation of standalone system in such rural areas would give an opening to
setting up of small scale industries.
1.2
In order to supplement ambitious capacity addition programme of Government of

India solar power is being encouraged in our country. This will also reduce green
house gas emission. The National Solar Mission envisages solar generation
capacity addition of 20000 MW by the year 2020. The main objective of installing
solar photovoltaic device system in urban areas, industries and rural areas will be
as follows:i)
To reduce the burden on conventional electricity in cities/towns facing

shortage of power.
ii)
To provide access to electricity to all rural households especially where

grid connectivity is not a cost effective solution.
iii)
To create awareness and demonstrate effective alternate solutions for

community/institutional solar based systems in urban areas and industry.
iv)
To save highly subsidized diesel in institutions and other commercial

establishments including industry facing huge power cuts especially during
day time.
1
1.3
v)
To reduce the burden on depleting fossil fuel resources such as coal and
to reduce carbon emission.
vi)
To provide a clean and environment friendly energy generation.
Accordingly a task force was constituted by MNRE under the chairmanship of

Chairperson, CEA, to examine the technical issues related to feasibility of
integrating solar power plants with thermal/hydro power plant and interconnectivity
of solar rooftop system with the grid. The task force comprises of members from
CEA, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Environment and Forest, MNRE, BEE, NTPC,
NHPC, BHEL, CEL, RCEL, RRVUNL, GEDA etc. The first meeting of the task
force was held on 18th June, 2009 at CEA office, New Delhi. During the meeting
three sub-groups were formed to look after interconnectivity of solar rooftop
system with the grid, integration of solar power plant with the existing thermal
power plant and integration of solar power plant with the existing hydro plant
respectively.
CONSTITUTION OF SUB-GROUP-I:
2.1
The constitution of Subgroup-I on Grid Tied Roof Top Solar PV System:

is as follows:1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Shri SM Dhiman, Member(GO&D), CEA-Chairman

Shri Puneet Goel, Director, Ministry of Power
Shri MK Raina, ED, NHPC
Shri Jitendra Sood, Energy Economist, BEE
Shri CVSN Murthy, AGM, BHEL, Bangalore.
Shri SK Sangal, ED, CEL
Shri S Ramesh, Chief Engineer, KPCL
Shri Vivek Singla, GM, NDPL
Shri Alok Gupta, Chief Engineer(DP&D), CEA-Member Secretary
TERM OF REFERENCE OF SUBGROUP-I:
3.1
To bring out guidelines on interconnection of roof top solar PV system one each
for a commercial building and an independent house to the grid which shall include
scheme, bill of material, specification, metering as well as safety aspects.
3.2
To look at voltage, frequency, harmonics, reliability, islanding and other related

issues with regard to solar generation.
3.3
To prepare a Feasibility Report for installing solar plant in Leh and Sewa Bhawan.
4
4.1
PROCEEDINGS OF SUB-GROUP-I:
The First meeting of the Subgroup-1 was held on 15th July 2009 in CEA office. The
Minutes of first meeting of the Sub-Group I held during the meeting are enclosed
at Annexure-I. The draft report prepared was also circulated to various members
of subgroup as also to members of task force. The comments received were
discussed and report was finalized accordingly.
SCOPE:
5.1
These guidelines are prepared with an aim to provide ready solutions for roof top
systems for commercial, industrial and residential complex installations and
individual consumer houses to feed full or part of the house load. However these
can be extended for non-roof top solar photovoltaic systems as well.
5.2
These guidelines are prepared to give an insight of the solar photo voltaic system
and are not a comprehensive technical or economic guide on photovoltaic
systems. The consumers are required to consult photovoltaic system designer,
retailer or supplier before procuring and installing any solar photovoltaic system.
5.3
These guidelines cover type of PV system to be used, functional description,

connectivity, equipment used, harmonics, schematic diagrams, voltage levels,
compliance to regulations, capacity, area coverage, implementation mechanism,
islanding protection, safety and reliability etc
TYPE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR SOLAR CELLS:
6.1
The solar PV system shall be designed with either mono/ poly crystalline silicon
modules or using thin film photovoltaic cells or any other superior technology
having higher efficiency.
6.2
Three key elements in a solar cell form the basis of their manufacturing
technology. The first is the semiconductor, which absorbs light and converts it into
electron-hole pairs. The second is the semiconductor junction, which separates
the photo-generated carriers (electrons and holes), and the third is the contacts on
the front and back of the cell that allow the current to flow to the external circuit.
The two main categories of technology are defined by the choice of the
semiconductor: either crystalline silicon in a wafer form or thin films of other
materials.
6.3
Crystalline Technology
i.
Crystalline silicon (c-Si) has been used as the light-absorbing

semiconductor in most solar cells, even though it is a relatively poor
absorber of light and requires a considerable thickness (several hundred
microns) of material. Nevertheless, it has proved convenient because it
3
yields stable solar cells with good efficiencies and uses process
technology developed from the huge knowledge base of the industry.
ii.
Two types of crystalline silicon are used in industry. The first is mono
crystalline, produced by slicing wafers (up to 150mm diameter and 350
microns thick) from a high-purity single crystal boule.
iii. The second is multi crystalline silicon, made by sawing a cast block of
silicon first into bars and then wafers. The main trend in crystalline silicon
cell manufacture is toward multi crystalline technology.
iv. For both mono- and multi crystalline Si, a semiconductor homo junction is
formed by diffusing phosphorus (an n-type dopant) into the top surface of
the boron doped (p-type) Si wafer. Screen-printed contacts are applied to
the front and rear of the cell, with the front contact pattern specially
designed to allow maximum light exposure of the Si material with
minimum electrical (resistive) losses in the cell.
v.
The most efficient production cells use mono crystalline c-Si with laser
grooved, buried grid contacts for maximum light absorption and current
collection.
vi. Some companies are using technologies that by-pass some of the
inefficiencies of the crystal growth/casting and wafer sawing route. One
route is to grow a ribbon of silicon, either as a plain two-dimensional strip
or as an octagonal column, by pulling it from a silicon melt. Another is to
melt silicon powder on a cheap conducting substrate. These processes
may bring with them other issues of lower growth/pulling rates and poorer
uniformity and surface roughness.
6.4
Thin film Technology

i.
The selected materials are all strong light absorbers and only need to be
about 1micron thick, so materials costs are significantly reduced. The
most common materials are amorphous silicon (a-Si, still silicon, but in
a different form), or the polycrystalline materials: cadmium telluride
(CdTe) and copper indium (gallium) diselenide (CIS or CIGS).
ii.
Each of these three is amenable to large area deposition (on to

substrates of about 1 meter dimensions) and hence high volume
manufacturing. The thin film semiconductor layers are deposited on to
either coated glass or stainless steel sheet.
iii. The semiconductor junctions are formed in different ways, either as a p-in device in amorphous silicon, or as a hetero-junction (e.g. with a thin
cadmium sulphide layer) for CdTe and CIS. A transparent conducting
4
oxide layer (such as tin oxide) forms the front electrical contact of the cell,
and a metal layer forms the rear contact.
iv. Amorphous silicon is the most well developed of the thin film
technologies. In its simplest form, the cell structure has a single sequence
of p-i-n layers. Such cells suffer from significant degradation in their
power output (in the range 15-35%) when exposed to the sun.
v.
Better stability requires the use of thinner layers in order to increase the
electric field strength across the material. However, this reduces light
absorption and hence cell efficiency.
vi. This has led the industry to develop tandem and even triple layer devices
that contain p-i-n cells stacked one on top of the other. In the cell at the
base of the structure, a-Si is sometimes alloyed with germanium to
reduce its band gap and further improve light absorption. All this added
complexity has a downside though; the processes are more complex and
process yields are likely to be lower.
vii. In order to build up a practically useful voltage from thin film cells, their
manufacture usually includes a laser scribing sequence that enables the
front and back of adjacent cells to be directly interconnected in series,
with no need for further solder connection between cells.
viii. As before, thin film cells are laminated to produce a weather resistant and
environmentally robust module. Although they are less efficient
(production modules range from 5 to 8%), thin films are potentially
cheaper than c-Si because of their lower materials costs and larger
substrate size.
ix. However, some thin film materials have shown degradation of
performance over time and stabilized efficiencies can be 15-35% lower
than initial values. Many thin film technologies have demonstrated best
cell efficiencies at research scale above 13%, and best prototype module
efficiencies above 10%. The technology that is most successful in
achieving low manufacturing costs in the long run is likely to be the one
that can deliver the highest stable efficiencies (probably at least 10%)
with the highest process yields.
x.
Amorphous silicon is the most well-developed thin film technology to-date

and has an interesting avenue of further development through the use of
"microcrystalline" silicon which seeks to combine the stable high
efficiencies of crystalline Si technology with the simpler and cheaper large
area deposition technology of amorphous silicon.
xi. However, conventional c-Si manufacturing technology has continued its

steady improvement year by year and its production costs are still falling
too.
xii. The emerging thin films technologies are starting to make significant inroads in to grid connect markets, particularly in Germany, but crystalline
technologies still dominate the market. Thin films have long held a niche
position in low power (<50W) and consumer electronics applications,
and may offer particular design options for building integrated
applications.
6.5
It would be seen from the table given below that crystalline solar modules are
costlier but much more efficient than thin film modules and therefore have 92%
share in the market. Typical cost of solar cell technologies are as follows, however
the cost are further coming down worldwide.
6.6
Approximate cost of Technologies
A.
A.1
A-2
B.
B.1
B.2
B.3
B.4
Technology Current
type
conversion
efficiency
(%)
Crystalline
silicon
Mono
17-23
crystalline
Poly
15-18
crystalline
Thin film
Amorphous 6
silicon
Tandem
8.5
micro
crystalline
Cadmium
11
telluride
Copper
12
indium
gallium
diselenide
Manufacturing
cost ($ per watt)
Market share (%)
92
2.40
2.15
1.35
8
-
1.35
1.15
1.75
(Source : Power line vol.13-No.8-April, 2009)
7
7.1
EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED FOR GRID TIED ROOF TOP SOLAR PV SYSTEM:

The grid tied roof top solar PV system generally comprises the following
equipment.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
7.2
8
8.1
SPV Power Source

Inverter
Grid Charger(only with system with batteries)
Charge Controller (only with system with batteries)
Batteries(Optional)
Mounting Structure
AC and DC Cables
Earthing equipment /material
Junction Boxes or combiners
Instruments and protection equipments
The functions of inverter, Charge controller and Grid charger can be built in one
unit called power conditioning unit (PCU). Similarly inverter and charger can also
be built in one unit. All control logics are built in inverter or PCU.
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
SOLAR PV POWER SOURCE
i.
Photovoltaic solar system use the light available from the sun to generate
electricity and feed this into the main electricity grid or load as the case may
be. The PV panels convert the light reaching them into DC power. The amount
of power they produce is roughly proportional to the intensity and the angle of
the light reaching them. They are therefore positioned to take maximum
advantage of available sunlight within siting constraints. Maximum power is
obtained when the panels are able to 'track' the sun's movements during the
day and the various seasons. However, these tracking mechanisms tend to
add a fair bit to the cost of the system, so a most of installations either have
fixed panels or compromise by incorporating some limited manual
adjustments, which take into account the different 'elevations' of the sun at
various times of the year. The best elevations vary with the latitude of the load
location.
ii.
The power generating capacity of a photovoltaic system is denoted in Kilowatt

peak (measured at standard test conditions of solar radiation of 1000 W per
m2). A common rule of thumb is that average power is equal to 20% of peak
power, so that each peak kilowatt of solar array output power corresponds to
energy production of 4.8 kWh per day (24 hours x 1 kW x 20% = 4.8 kWh)
iii. Solar photovoltaic modules can be developed in various combinations

depending upon the requirements of the voltage and power output to be taken
7
from the solar plant. No. of cells and modules may vary depending upon the
manufacturer prudent practice.
iv. The capacity and rating of Roof top SPV Power Source will depend on the
load to be fed by it. The basic building block of PV technology is the solar
cell. Numbers of cells are wired in series to provide one PV module. Many
modules are linked together to form a PV array. Many arrays are then wired
to form a solar PV system to give the desired output. Roof top PV modules are
sold commercially in the range of 10 watts to 100 watts power output.
v.
For the purpose of grid tied roof top solar PV system of 0.5kW to 50 kW
considered in the report, two PV modules of 160 watts and 80 watts consisting
of 72 cells and 36 cells respectively have been considered. These modules of
sizes other than above are also available in the market and can be used.
These modules can be connected in series parallel combination to form PV
arrays and PV systems.
vi. As a rule of thumb, the roof top solar PV modules will cover a maximum area
in the range of 8m2 to 18m2 per kWp depending on the type of technology
used and also depending upon the space available. The orientation would be
generally towards south and inclination angle shall be as per latitude of the
location of the installation.
vii. The power delivered by an SPV power source will depend on PV module
rating and isolation level of the location and environmental factors like dust,
wind, velocity and temperature of the location. Knowing the rating of the SPV
system (power source) only vis-a-vis load does not guarantee the deliverance
of full power of the load. Some of the features of SPV technology &
environmental factors which influence the performance of the power source
are I-V Curve, Voltage of the SPV power source, Irradiance or light intensity,
Temperature of the cells, Response of the light spectrum, and Orientation of
the panel/array, Full Sun hours or Isolation /day. (isolation is a measure of
solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. It is
commonly expressed In the case of photovoltaic it is commonly measured as
kWh/(kWpy) (kilowatt hours per year per kilowatt peak rating).
viii. With a view to encourage technology development and reduction in the cost of
the PV power plant projects, the PV power project developers shall make
effort to utilize the state of the art technology to set up the plants. They are
expected to use large capacity and higher power output PV modules available
for the specific technology used in setting up the power plant.
ix. I-V Curve
The suppliers of the SPV power source shall provide the I-V Curve at standard
2
condition of 1000W/m solar intensity at 25 Degree Centigrade and Air Mass
8
(thickness of the atmosphere)) of 1.5. By looking at the I-V curve it shall be

possible to know about the optimum power to be delivered by the SPV
panel/array/source. In addition the peak hour behavior of current and voltage
can also be estimated from the curve. A module which is rated at 17 volts will
produce less than its rated power when used in a battery system. This is
because the working voltage will be between 12 and 15 volts. As wattage
(power) is the product of volts times amps, the module output will be reduced.
For example: a 50 watt module working at 13.0 volts will produce 39.0 watts
(13.0 volts x 3.0 amps = 39.0 watts).This is important to remember when
sizing a PV system. An I-V curve is simply all of a modules possible operating
points, (voltage/current combinations) at a given cell temperature and light.
x.
SPV Voltage:
The voltage of the SPV power source is an important factor that affects the
battery charging in case of system with battery. The voltage of the SPV
Cell/Module/Panel decreases with the rise of its temperature, which increases
or decreases @ 0.0024V/cell/degree Celsius. To charge a battery fully the
voltage of the power source shall be better than 2.5V/cell. Considering this
fact, the Voltage of the SPV panel at optimum power shall be such that the
voltage delivered by it at the battery terminals shall be about 2.25V/cell.
xi. Irradiance or Light intensity

In actual field condition the irradiance may be different than the standard
irradiance. The SPV modules or panels are designed at a standard irradiance
of 1000 watts per meter square at 25 Celsius and AM (air mass) 1.5, which is
called ONE SUN or peak irradiance. The current delivered by the SPV power
source will decrease or increase but there would be no variation in the system
voltage.
xii. Solar PV modules shall comply with the requirement of Bureau of Indian
Standards (BIS) or IEC 61215 or other international standards and MNRE
approved test centers.
xiii. The PV power project developers are required to optimize generation of
electricity in terms of kWh generated per kWp of PV capacity installed vis--vis
available solar radiation at the site. This may be achieved through use of
efficient electronics, lower cable losses, maximization of power transfer from
PV modules to electronics and the grid, maximization of power generation by
enhancing incident radiation by optional methods like seasonally changing tilt
angles etc.
xiv. Before installing the PV solar system it shall be ensured that sun path is clear
and not shaded by trees, roof gables, chimneys, buildings or other features of
9
home such as cable antenna and the surrounding landscape. Roof top must
be shake proof, flat concrete tiles and mission tiles roof.
xv. As a rule of thumb 15% generation may be deducted if system is to be located
within 50 km. of the coast and 7% may be deducted if PV system is located in
valley regions subject to fog conditions.
xvi. Ideally, grid tied systems do not require battery back up as the grid acts as
the back-up for absorbing excess solar power and feeding the customer load
in case of shortfall. However, to enhance the performance reliability of the
overall systems, a minimum battery-back of one hr of load capacity could also
be considered where grid supply is not reliable and erratic.
8.2
INVERTER
i.
The DC power produced is fed to inverter for conversion into AC. In a grid tied
system AC power is fed to the grid at 11 KV three phase systems or to a 415V
three phases or 220/240 V single phase system line depending on the system
installed at institution/commercial establishment or residential complex or
single house consumer and load requirement. Power generated from the solar
system during the daytime is utilized fully by powering the captive loads and
feeding excess power to the grid as long as grid is available. In cases, where
solar power is not sufficient due to cloud cover etc. the captive loads are
served by drawing power from the grid. The inverter should always give
preference to the Solar Power and will use Grid/DG power only when the Solar
Power is insufficient to meet the load requirement.
ii.
The output of the inverter must synchronize automatically its AC output to the
exact AC voltage and frequency of the grid.
iii. In a solar PV system without battery or with battery the inverter continuously
monitors the condition of the grid and in the event of grid failure; the inverter
automatically switches to off-grid supply within 20-50 milliseconds. The solar
system is resynchronized with the grid within two minutes after the restoration
of grid. Grid voltage is continuously monitored and in the event of voltage
going below a preset value and above a preset value, the solar system shall
be disconnected from the grid within the set time. Both over voltage and under
voltage relays shall have adjustable voltage (50% to 130%) and time settings
(0 to 5 seconds).
iv. Over-voltage protection shall be provided by using Metal Oxide Varistors
(MOVs) on DC and AC side the inverter.
v.
The inverter shall be so designed so as to operate the PV system near its

maximum Power Point (MPP), the operating point where the combined values
10
of the current and voltage of the solar modules result in a maximum power
output.
vi. The inverter shall be a true sine way inverter for a grid interactive PV
system.
vii. In case of system with battery, inverter also monitors the, state of Battery
Voltage, and performs switching operations to ensure that battery is charged
continuously.
viii. The degree of protection of the indoor inverter panel shall be at least IP 31
and that of outdoor at least IP-55
8.3
CHARGE CONTROLLER
i.
Normally in a solar PV system with battery, battery is first charged from

solar system through Charge Controller. A charge controller monitors the
battery's state-of-charge to insure that when the battery needs chargecurrent it gets it, and also insures the battery isn't over-charged.
Connecting a solar panel to a battery without a regulator seriously risks
damaging the battery and potentially causing a safety concern.
ii.
Charge controllers (or often called charge regulator) are rated based on
the amount of amperage they can process from a solar array. If a
controller is rated at 20 amps it means that you can connect up to 20
amps of solar panel output current to this one controller. The most
advanced charge controllers utilize a charging principal referred to as
Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) - which insures the most efficient battery
charging and extends the life of the battery. Even more advanced
controllers also include Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) which
maximizes the amount of current going into the battery from the solar
array by lowering the panel's output voltage, which increases the
charging amps to the battery - because if a panel can produce 60 watts
with 17.2 volts and 3.5 amps, then if the voltage is lowered to say 14 volts
then the amperage increases to 4.28 (14v X 4.28 amps = 60 watts)
resulting in a 19% increase in charging amps for this example.
iii. Many charge controllers also offer Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD) and
Battery Temperature Compensation (BTC) as an optional feature. The
LVD feature permits connecting loads to the LVD terminals which are
then voltage sensitive. If the battery voltage drops too far the loads are
disconnected - preventing potential damage to both the battery and the
loads. BTC adjusts the charge rate based on the temperature of the
battery since batteries are sensitive to temperature variations above and
below about 75 F degrees.
11
8.4
GRID CHARGER
In a grid tied solar PV system with battery, a grid charger can also provided
which charges the battery taking AC power from the Grid/DG in case solar power
is not sufficient to charge the battery or battery voltage is very low. This may
happen during the continuous cloudy days.
8.5
BATTERIES
For the purpose of making this report battery system is not considered in view of
reliability of grid power supply and has been kept as optional item. In case
battery system is also envisaged generally low maintenance. Lead Acid batteries
are provided wherever required. Generally, the batteries are provided are of 2V
cells connected in series to reach the system voltage. Battery shall be suitable
for charging from SPV system as well as from the grid in case of grid interactive
system and with SPV system alone in case of stand alone system.
PROTECTIONS AND CONTROL
9.1
In addition to disconnection from the grid (islanding protection ) on no supply,

under and over voltage conditions , PV systems shall be provided with adequate
rating fuses, fuses on inverter input side (DC) as well as output side (AC) side for
overload and short circuit protection and disconnecting switches to isolate the DC
and AC system for maintenance.
9.2
Fuses of adequate rating shall also be provided in each solar array module to
protect them against short circuit.
9.3
There could always be possibility of something being wrong with the inverter and it
continues to put electricity to the grid in the event of grid failure. In such case to
avoid any accident, a manual disconnect switch beside automatic disconnection to
grid would have to be provided to isolate the grid connection by the utility personal
to carry out any maintenance. This switch shall be locked by the utility personal.
9.4
Following protections shall also be provided to ensure safe and efficient operation
and shall include the following:
Avoiding Battery overcharging (in case of SPV system with battery)

Avoiding Battery over discharge(in case of SPV system with
battery)
Battery over load protection(in case of SPV system with battery)
Ground fault protection system.
12
Any other protection as per manufacturers prudent practice for

safe and efficient protection.
10 CAPACITY CALCULATIONS FOR PV SYSTEMS:

Sample calculation for A sample calculation to arrive at capacity of PV system,
Battery and inverter is placed at Annexure-II
11 TYPE OF SCHEMES AND CONNECTION ARRANGEMENTS:
11.1 The rooftop solar system can be a standalone system as well as grid tied system.
In this report the Sub-Group has considered only the grid tied system. In the grid
tied system also there can be a number of schemes depending upon the reliability
of supply the consumer needs.
11.2 Wherever the battery is not envisaged, the solar system can be directly connected
to consumer AC bus and the total energy of the solar system will be supplied to
consumer/grid depending upon the requirement of the consumer. The scheme for
grid tied rooftop solar system is shown in Scheme-I.
11.3 In case where battery is also envisaged, the scheme of connection for solar PV
system will depend upon the way the battery is charged. There are two possible
ways of charging battery. First one is where there is AC coupling i.e. first the DC
produced by solar is converted into AC and battery is connected through a charger
which converts AC into DC. This arrangement is shown in Configuration-A. In
this arrangement as long as grid is available the solar system, consumer, and
battery system will be tied up with grid. In case of grid failure solar system, battery
system and consumer load would be disconnected form grid and solar will be
connected to battery and AC loads through another route. This arrangement has
been finalized with the premise that normally consumer and battery system will
take supply from gird. This scheme is envisaged in Europe where feed in tariff is
employed. However the only difference proposed here is regarding the positioning
of the solar meter(SM). In the scheme in vogue in Europe for feed in tariff the SM
is towards the grid side and does not record the energy drawn by the consumer
/battery during grid failure. In the suggested scheme as per configuration-A, during
grid failure also it measures the solar generation including the energy drawn by
battery and the consumer load.
11.4 In the second arrangement, solar system directly charges the battery through
charge controller i.e. DC coupling (Configuration-B). In this arrangement the AC
system is not involved to charge the battery and battery will always be connected
to solar system. In case, battery is discharged due to any reason whatsoever solar
system will first charge the battery and the excess generation from the solar will be
fed into grid. This scheme would not reflect the true gross generation produced by
the solar PV system.
13
11.5 In case battery system is envisaged, it is proposed to adopt Configuration A.
CONFIGURATION A
SE+GI+CE=GE+CI+SI
SI
Inverter
Solar PV
SM
GI
G
r
I
d
SE
S1
S2
GM
SW
CI
S1
Consumer
CM
GE
CE
Normally solar is tied with
the grid. When grid fails
inverter controlled switch
S1 ,located in inverter, will
open within 20-50 m sec
and S2 will close
Inverter
Cum
Charger
SM-Solar Meter
GM-Grid Meter
Battery
CM-consumer Meter
8
SW Manual Lockable switch for grid maintenance
CONFIGURATION B
SE+GI+CE=GE+CI+SI
SI
Inverter
Cum
Charger
SM
GI
GM
G
r
I
d
SE
Charge
controller
Solar PV
Battery
CI
GE
CE
CM
Consumer
SM-Solar Meter
Normally solar is tied
with the grid. When grid
fails switch S located in
inverter will open within
20-50 m sec
GM-Grid Meter
CM-consumer Meter
Battery Charging is through

DC Bus so SM always
measures
Net
Solar
generation
ie.
Gross
excluding battery Charging
9
14
11.6 Based on above two configurations following schemes of grid tied roof top Solar
PV system has been considered by the sub-group for various applications
depending upon grid supply availability and the redundancy the consumer needs.
Sl
No
1
Schemes
Description
Scheme-I
Grid tied Solar PV System without Battery.
2
3
Scheme-II
Scheme-III
4
5
6
Scheme-IV
Scheme-V
Scheme-VI
Scheme-VII
Grid tied Solar PV System with full load Battery backup.

Grid tied Solar PV System with Partial load Battery
backup
Grid Tied Solar PV System With Full Load DG Backup
Grid Tied Solar PV System With Partial Load DG Backup
Grid Tied Solar PV System With Full Load Battery and
DG Backup
Grid Tied Solar PV System With Partial Load Battery and
DG Backup
11.7 The above schemes are briefly discussed

i.
Scheme-I : Grid tied roof top solar PV system without battery
This is a simplest scheme of the grid tied rooftop solar system. In this
arrangement inverter which is heart of the entire solar system continuously
supervises the grid condition and in the event of grid failure or under voltage
or over voltage, the solar system is disconnected by the circuit breaker /auto
switch provided in the inverter. Since there is no back up in the solar system,
it cannot supply the consumer load in the event of grid failure because the
load is continuously varying in nature. Block diagram of the scheme is
shown in scheme-I
ii.
Scheme-II: Grid tied roof top solar PV system with full load
Battery back up (based on Configuration-A)
In this scheme when the grid is available consumer loads will be fed from grid
side and solar system is connected to grid through its inverter. Solar is
continuously feeding the grid. In this arrangement battery and inverter cum
charger (which may be available in the consumer house) is also shown. The
DC generated form solar is first converted to AC and than it is connected to
other equipments/grid. When grid fails automatic disconnection from the grid
side takes place and solar is connected to battery system and AC consumer
load directly through another switch which operates after a time delay. Block
diagram of the scheme is shown in Scheme-II.
15
iii. Scheme-III: Grid tied roof top solar PV system with partial load
Battery back up (Based on Configuration-A)
Under this scheme also, the basic operation will be same as given in for
scheme-II but bus splitting is necessary in the even of grid failure so as to
supply critical loads as battery back up is not sufficient to feed the entire
consumer load. In the event of grid failure or under voltage or over voltage,
inverter will disconnect the grid supply and connect the inverter with
emergency panel. Battery system shall supply the emergent loads and battery
will be charged depending on availability of solar power. Block diagram of
the scheme is shown in Scheme-III.
iv. Scheme-IV: Grid tied roof top solar PV system with full load
DG backup system
All the equipment envisaged in the Scheme-I would be provided in this
scheme as well, however, in addition there is second line of defense and DG
set is also envisaged because in some parts of the country, the grid supply is
not very reliable and is erratic. The operation of this scheme would be similar
to module A but in addition provision is kept for consumer DG set. In case the
failure of utility grid the solar PV system shall be disconnected form the grid
and DG shall start. Once DG is started the solar system shall also be
connected to the AC bus after synchronization with the DG set. DG set will be
automatically disconnected in the event of grid supply is restored. Block
diagram of the scheme is shown in Scheme-IV.
v.
Scheme-V: Grid tied roof top solar PV system with partial load DG
Backup system
Under this scheme also, the basic operation will be similar to that under
Scheme-VI. Only AC bus segregation in the consumer premises would be
necessary to supply critical loads during grid failure. Block diagram of the
scheme is shown in Scheme-V.
vi.
Scheme-VI: Grid tied roof top solar PV system with full load Battery
and DG backup system(based on Configuration-A)
In this arrangement solar PV system will remain tied up with the utility grid as
long as supply from the grid is available. In the event of supply failure or low
voltage or over voltage solar system will be disconnected from the grid and
DG system will start. Once the DG set is started and solar generation is
possible the solar system shall be again connected to the system. In the
event of restoration of grid supply the solar system shall be again connected
to main grid. All the control operations shall be performed by the inverter
connected to solar system. Block diagram of the scheme is shown in
Scheme-VI.
16
vii. Scheme-VII :Grid tied roof top solar PV system with partial load
Battery and DG backup system(based on Configuration-A)
The scheme will be similar to Scheme-VIII. Only AC load segregation will be
done in case of grid failure. Block diagram of the scheme is shown in
Scheme-VII
11.8 In Europe where feed into tariff based on gross energy generated by solar system
is envisaged, the first scheme is more popular. In USA and Canada the metering
arrangement is based on net metering and the second scheme is generally
envisaged The Committee has suggested that we should adopt.
Configuration A where battery system is envisaged.
11.9 The above schemes have been considered with the premise that solar system is
installed by individual consumer. There can be a case where solar company or a
service provider implements a solar system and makes contract with the
distribution utility and supplies number of consumers. In that case solar system
shall be connected to utility bus instead of consumer bus. The connection point
shall be utility bus. The metering arrangement for the same will be similar
otherwise.
11.10 The control scheme for sequence of operations of various equipments is a matter
of detail engineering and can be prepared in consultation with the supplier of the
solar PV module and inverter.
11.11 The DG and its associated equipments shall not in scope of supplier ,however in
case DG system is envisaged by the consumer necessary hardware and controls
to disconnect and connect DG set shall be provided in inverter and wiring shall be
done by the solar PV supplier.
11.12 Block diagram has been made to illustrate the connection diagram and metering
arrangement and does not show all wires, breakers, fuses, disconnecting switches
and lightening arrestors which are required to be provided for safe and efficient
operation by supplier of PV system.
12 METERING PHILOSOPHY AND REQUIREMENTS:
12.1 Metering is required to measure the following energy transactions besides
measurement of DC battery voltages, DC current, AC system voltages and
currents , frequency etc
a.
b.
c.
d.
Solar Gross Generation

Consumer load consumption
Export of energy to the Grid
Import of energy from the Grid
17
e. Export from DG to Grid

12.2 There are two basic philosophies of metering prevalent in the world when utility
grid is connected with solar generating source and feed the load.
Net metering or Market rate net metering

Feed in tariff metering
12.3 Net Metering:

i.
Net metering is an electricity policy for consumers who own (generally small)
renewable energy facilities, such as wind, solar power or home fuel cells. Net
metering means measurement of net energy consumption by the load from a
system. If a consumer load is connected to two generating sources and one
is infinite grid and other is a small generating source such as solar described
above their may be following options depending upon the size of the small
source and time of use
ii.
Generated power by the small source is in excess of the load at a particular

moment. In this case surplus power from this source will be fed into the grid if
it is a grid interactive system.
iii. Generated power by the small source is less than the power required by the
load. In this case the extra power to meet the consumer load will be taken
from grid.
iv. At the end of month the billing of the consumer by the distribution company is
done based on the net energy import from the grid. Under net metering, a
distribution company receives credit for net energy supplied to the consumer
load in case it is import and pays to the developer of the small source if there
is net export to the grid.
v.
In this case the tariff has to be same for export as well as import of energy
as the billing is done on net energy basis.
vi. In some parts of USA and Canada, credit for the export is adjusted on
predefined period of say six months or year and adjusted in running bills. No
incentive is given for net export beyond the defined period. However it is
learnt that gradually they are also shifting towards feed in tariff.
12.4 Feed in tariff Metering
i.
It is a different method of providing power to the electricity grid that does not
offer the price symmetry of net metering, making this system a lot less
profitable for home users of small renewable energy systems.
18
ii.
Under this arrangement, practice is to have two uni-directional meters are

installedone records electricity drawn from the grid and the other records
excess electricity generated and fed back into the grid. The above
functionality can also be achieved with having one meter having separate
export and import recording registers.
iii. The user pays retail rate for the electricity they use, and the power provider
purchases their excess generation at its avoided cost (wholesale rate). There
may be a significant difference between the retail rate the user pays and the
power provider's avoided cost.
iv. Germany and Spain, on the other hand, have adopted a price schedule, or
Feed-in Tariff (FIT), whereby customers get paid for any electricity they
generate from renewable energy on their premises. The actual electricity
being generated is counted on a separate meter, not just the surplus they
feed back to the grid.
v.
In Germany, for the solar power generated, a feed-in tariff of more than 3
times the retail rate per kWh for residential customers is being paid in order
to boost solar power (figure from 2006). Wind energy, in contrast, only
receives around a third of the retail rate because the German system pays
what each source costs.
vi. Feed in tariff is in vogue except in some parts of USA and Canada
12.5 Metering arrangement in Indian Context:
i.
The various type of metering and tariff philosophies prevalent in the world
were studied by the group and it was considered that Generation Based
Incentive (GBI) based on entire solar generation would be appropriate to
encourage consumer to implement roof top solar PV systems. Under this
arrangement, both on the solar power consumed by the operator and solar
power fed into the grid feed in tariff be provided. The two inverter based
scheme (Configuration A) as described above is recommended for systems
where battery is envisaged as in configuration-B the solar meter(export)
measures net generation i.e. gross generation minus battery charging by
solar. In cases where battery is not envisaged the scheme-I would be
applicable.
ii.
Suggested metering scheme for solar PV systems is shown in block diagram

of each schemes annexed herewith. Meters would have to install as per
above.
iii. Metering scheme indicated herewith is only for guideline purpose and
applicable scheme would be as per the metering scheme finalised by the
appropriate Electricity Regulatory Commission.
19
iv. Metering requirements shall be as per Regulations on Installation and

Operation of Meters.
v.
If the tariff is different for different time slots in a day, the Time of Use
metering arrangement would be required to be provided and facility for
recording export and import in the meter for each time slot shall be required.
vi. Technical particulars of meters are given in Annexure-III.

13 VOLTAGE LEVELS:
i.
Though rooftop systems shall be generally connected on LV supply, large

solar PV system may have to be connected to 11 kV system. Following
criteria have been suggested for selection of voltage level in the
distribution system for ready reference of the solar suppliers.
a Up to 10 KW PV system supply Low Voltage single phase supply
shall be provided.
b Thereafter up to a level of 100 kW PV system, three phases low
voltage supply shall be provided.
c In case load is more than 100 kW and does not exceed 1.5 MW, SPV
system connection can be made at 11 kV level.
d In case load is more than 1.5 MW PV system and does not exceed 5
MW, SPV system connection can be made at 11kV/33 kV/66kv level
or as per the site condition.
ii.
Utilities may have voltage levels other than above, DISCOMS may be
consulted before finalization of the voltage level and specification be
made accordingly.
iii. The voltage variation in various power supply systems shall be 10%
iv. The solar PV system for above 11 kV systems is not considered in these
guidelines because the same may not be feasible on roof top due to
space limitation and operational problems.
v.
In the roof top solar system, the grid interconnection is generally made to
low voltage single phase or three phase system. For large PV system for
commercial installation having large load, the solar power can be
generated at low voltage levels and stepped up to 11 kV level through the
step up transformer. The transformers and associated switchgear would
require to be provided by the SPV supplier.
20
14 COMPLIANCE TO REGULATIONS ON METERING AND GRID CONNECTIVITY:

CEA has notified regulations on Installation and Operation of Meters, grid
connectivity and technical standards of grid connectivity which stipulates the various
technical requirements such as accuracy class of meters, level of harmonics and
other requirements. The developer of solar power shall ensure that requirement of
these Regulations shall be complied with. Non-compliance to these regulations will
be dealt with requisite provisions of the ACT.
15 POWER QUALITY REQUIREMENTS:
15.1 DC INJECTION INTO GRID:
i.
The injection of DC power into the grid shall be avoided by using an isolation
transformer at the output of the inverter.
ii.
Various standards and guidelines define the maximum DC component that

feed-in electricity from grid-feeding inverters may possess. The following is
the practice followed by few countries.
Standard
designated as:
IEC 61727
IEEE 1547
Standard applicable in:
threshold values
Thailand
USA
EN 50438
IEEE 929
Europe
Thailand (until 2008)
UL 1741
USA
AS 4777
Australia
VDE 0126-1-1
Synergrid C10/11
DK5940
Germany
Belgium
Italy
G83
United Kingdom
1% (of rated AC current)

0.5% (of rated AC
current)
Not specified
0.5% (of rated AC
current)
0.5% (of rated AC
current)
0.5% (of rated AC
current)
1A
1% (of rated AC current)
0.5% (of rated AC
current)
20 mA (recommended)
iii. BIS is aligned to IEC standards as such it is suggested that IEC 61727 may
be followed in Indian environment. It is also proposed by the committee that
CEA may approach BIS to develop standards for solar systems covering
power quality requirements for solar systems.
21
15.2
RIPPLE CONTENT ON DC SIDE

i.
The most common meaning of ripple in electrical science, is the small

unwanted residual periodic variation of the direct current (dc) output of a
power supply which has been derived from an alternating current (ac)
source. This ripple is due to incomplete suppression of the alternating
waveform within the power supply.
ii.
PV modules shall produces Pure DC Voltage and Current without any ripple.
The inverter operation will influence the voltage on the DC side, so will have
a backlash on the PV generator voltage. Depending on the inverter topology
and with or without transformer, the ripple on the DC side may appear very
different. Even an old style transformer inverter has some very low AC
2x50Hz ripple on the DC side. That's due to the energy flow in the inverter.
iii. A transformer-less inverter has no galvanic separation between AC and DC

side. The voltage to ground is influenced by AC and depending on the
topology of the inverter even full AC sin wave on the DC side (on top of DC
voltage level - measured to earth) or for other topologies, there will be no AC
ripple on DC side.
iv. There is no standard available for ripple control, it is proposed that the ripple
content must not exceed 3% based on products literature.
15.3 HARMONICS ON AC SIDE:
i.
Harmonic distortion is caused principally by non-linear load such as

rectifiers and arc furnaces and can affect the operation of a supply
system and can cause overloading of equipments such as capacitors, or
even resonance with the system leading to overstressing (excessive
voltage & current). Other effects are interference with telephone circuits
and broadcasting, metering errors, overheating of rotating machines due
to increased iron losses (eddy current effects), overheating of delta
connected winding of transformer due to excessive third harmonics or
excessive exciting current.
ii.
The limits for harmonics shall be as stipulated in the CEA Regulations on

grid connectivity which are as follows:
a. Total Voltage harmonic Distortion= 5%
b. Individual Voltage harmonics Distortion=3%
c. Total Current harmonic Distortion=8%
iii. Utilities must procure sufficient number of harmonic measuring

instruments for
carrying out measurements at regular intervals near
the source of harmonics
generation.
22
15.4 VOLTAGE UNBALANCE

The Voltage Unbalance at 33 kV and above shall not exceed 3.0%
15.5 VOLTAGE FLUCTUATIONS
(i)
The permissible limit of voltage fluctuation for step changes which may
occur repetitively is 1.5%.
For occasional fluctuations other than step changes the maximum
permissible limits is 3%.
The limits prescribed in (i) and (ii) above shall come into force not later
than five years from the date of publication of these regulations in the
Official Gazette.
(ii)
(iii)
16 COMMUNICATION INTERFACE:
16.1 The communication must be able to support
Real time data logging

Event logging
Supervisory control
Operational modes
Set point editing
16.2 The following parameters shall also be measured and and displayed continuously.
a. Solar system temperature
b. Ambient temperature
c.Solar irradiation/isolation
d.DC current and Voltages
e.DC injection into the grid (one time measurement at the time of
installation)
f.Efficiency of the inverter
g.Solar system efficiency
h.Display of I-V curve of the solar system
i.Any other parameter considered necessary by supplier of the solar
PV system based on prudent practice.
16.3 Data logger system must record these parameters for study of effect of various
environmental & grid parameters on energy generated by the solar system and
various analysis would be required to be provided through bar charts, curves,
tables, which shall be finalized during approval of drawings.
23
16.4 The communication interface shall be an integral part of inverter and shall be
suitable to be connected to local computer and also remotely via the Web using
either a standard modem or a GSM / WIFI modem.
16.5 The bidder must supply all the required hardware to have this web based SCADA
operational such that the system can be monitored via the web from distribution
company office. Full fledged SCADA is recommended for Solar PV plants above
25 kW.
17 MOUNTING STRUCTURES:
17.1 Hot dip galvanized iron mounting structures may be used for mounting the
modules/ panels/arrays. These mounting structures must be suitable to mount the
SPV modules/panels/arrays on the roof top, on the ground or on the poles/masts,
at an angle of tilt with the horizontal in accordance with the latitude of the place of
installation.
17.2 The following may be ensured about the mounting structure :
i
The Mounting structure shall be so designed to withstand the speed for the wind
zone of the location where a PV system is proposed to be installed (Delhi-wind
speed of 150 kM/ hour). It may be ensured that the design has been certified by
a recognized Lab/ Institution in this regard.
ii
The mounting structure steel shall be as per latest IS 2062: 1992 and
galvanization of the mounting structure shall be in compliance of latest IS 4759.
18 POWER AND CONTROL CABLES:

18.1 Power Cables of adequate rating shall be required for interconnection of :
- Modules/panels within array
- Array & Charge Controller
- Charge Controller & Battery
- Charge controller & Loads Including Inverter (if used) & between load &
inverter.
18.2 The cable shall be 1.1 grade, heavy duty, stranded copper/aluminium conductor,
PVC type A insulated, galvanized steel wire/strip armoured, flame retardant low
smoke (FRLS) extruded PVC type ST-1 outer sheathed. The cables shall, in
general conform to IS-1554 P+I & other relevant standards.
18.3 The minimum size of 11 kV power cables shall be chosen taking into account Fault
level contribution to the system and full load current. However, power cables size
for 415 V systems shall be chosen taking into account the full load current &
voltage drop. The allowable voltage drop at terminal of the connected equipment
24
shall be max. 2.5% at full load. The derating factors viz. group duration of temp.
duration shall also be considered while choosing the conductor size.
18.4 Control Cables
The cable shall be 1.1 grades, heavy duty, stranded copper conductor, PVC type
A insulated, galvanized steel wire/strip armoured, flame retardant low smoke
(FRLS) extruded PVC type ST-1 outer sheathed. The cables shall, in general
conform to IS-1554 P+I & other relevant standards.
18.5 The permissible voltage drop from the SPV Generator to the Charge controller
shall not be more than 2% of peak power voltage of the SPV power source
(generating system). In the light of this fact the cross-sectional area of the cable
chosen is such that the voltage drop introduced by it shall be within 2% of the
system voltage at peak power.
18.6 All connections should be properly terminated, soldered and/or sealed from
outdoor and indoor elements. Relevant codes and operating manuals must be
followed. Extensive wiring and terminations (connection points) for all PV
components is needed along with electrical connection to lighting loads.
19 EARTHING MATERIAL:
19.1 Earthing is essential for the protection of the equipment & manpower. Two main
grounds used in the power equipments are :
a.
b.
System earth
Equipment earth
19.2 System earth is earth which is used to ground one leg of the circuit. For example
in AC circuits the Neutral is earthed while in DC supply +ve is earthed.
19.3 In case of equipment earth all the non-current carrying metal parts are bonded
together and connected to earth to prevent shock to the man power & also the
protection of the equipment in case of any accidental contact.
19.4 To prevent the damage due to lightning the one terminal of the lightning protection
arrangement is also earthed. The provision for lightning & surge protection of the
SPV power source & Charge controller is required to be made.
19.5 In case the SPV Array can not be installed close to the equipment to be powered
& a separate earth has been provided for SPV System, it shall be ensured that all
the earths are bonded together to prevent the development of potential difference
between ant two earths.
25
19.6 Earth resistance shall not be more than 5 ohms. It shall be ensured that all the
earths are bonded together to make them at the same potential.
19.7 The earthing conductor shall be rated for the maximum short circuit current. &
shall be 1.56 times the short circuit current. The area of cross-section shall not be
less than 1.6 sq mm in any case.
20
JUNCTIONS BOXES OR COMBINERS

Dust, water and vermin proof junction boxes of adequate rating and adequate
terminal facility made of fire resistant Plastic (FRP) shall be provided for wiring.
Each solar shall be provided with fuses of adequate rating to protect the solar
arrays from accidental short circuit.
21 ACCEPTANCE OF SYSTEMS AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

21.1 The installer must verify that the system has been installed according to the
manufacturers procedures. A checkout procedure should be developed to ensure
an efficient and complete installation.
21.2 A system can be checked with some common test equipment to verify proper
installation and performance. A key to keeping the system testing simple is to do
the tests on cloudless days. Clouds can cause fluctuations that confound
evaluation of the results.
22 SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION:
It is essential that the owner have complete documentation on the system. System
documentation should include an owners manual and copies of relevant drawings for
whatever system maintenance might be required in the future.
23 TECHNICAL PARTICULARS, SPECIFICATION AND BILL OF MATERIAL:

23.1 Two PV modules are considered here one comprising cells forming a 160 watt
module and another 80 watt module. Technical particular of module Type-160
(160 watts) and Module Type-80 (80 watts) are indicated in Annexure-IV.
23.2 Bill of material for suggested ratings (0.5kW to 100 kW) of Roof top PV system is
indicated in Annexure-V.
23.3 Typical Technical specification of a rooftop solar system is enclosed as volume II
of this report.
26
ANNEXURE-I
MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF SUB GROUP I INTERCONNECTIVITY OF
SOLAR PHOTO VOLTAIC ROOF TOP SYSTEMS WITH THE GRID HELD ON 15-072009.
First meeting of the Sub Group-I regarding Interconnectivity of Solar Photo
Voltaic Roof Top System with the Grid was taken by Member (GO&D), CEA at 10.30
hours on 15th July, 2009 at CEA, Sewa Bhawan, R.K. Puram, New Delhi. List of
participants is enclosed.
2.
Member (GO&D), CEA, welcomed the participants to the meeting and stated that
a National Solar Mission has been envisaged to ensure rapid and large scale diffusion
of solar energy technologies in the country. National Solar Mission envisages setting up
of grid inter active solar capacity of about 20,000 MW by 2020 & about 1 lakh MW by
2030. Among various applications, grid interactive Solar Power generation will be one of
the important applications. A Task Force has been constituted under the Chairperson,
CEA to examine inter-alia, technical issues relating to feasibility of integrating solar
based plants with thermal/hydro electric power plants and connectivity of Solar rooftop
systems and other Solar Plants with grid. In the first meeting of Task Force held on 18th
June, 2009, three Sub Groups were constituted to look into various aspects related to
setting up of solar power plants in India. The terms of reference of the Sub Group- I
headed by Member (GO&D) CEA is to bring out guidelines on interconnection of Solar
roof top system for the commercial and domestic buildings to the grid which would
include scheme, bill of material, specification, metering as well as safety aspect. This
Sub Group would also look at voltage, frequency, harmonics, reliability, islanding and
other related issued with regard to solar generation. Member (GO&D), CEA has also
been requested to prepare a feasibility report for installing solar plant in Leh & Ladakh
Region.
4.
Subsequently M/s. BHEL and M/s. CEL made presentations regarding their
experience of setting up of Solar Power Plants in the country covering all aspects
including manufacturing, installation and operation etc. During the presentation it was
seen that M/s. BHEL has implemented solar PV System at the following places Lakshadweep - aggregating capacity of 1 MWp at various islands
(8x100 + 1x150 +2x50 KW)
Andaman & Nicobar
Sunderaban (WB)- 490 kWp at six Islands & 55 kWp under progress,
Ranchi - 620 kWp (2.2 to 5.5 kW packages fo tribal school & hostels)
Punjab - 200 No. SPV each of 1800 Wp for water pumps
Chattisgarh- 220 kWp village electrification system ranging from 1 to 6 kWp
(2x50 KW )
27
APTRANSCO- Vidyut Soudha-Hyderabad 100 kWp
M/s. BHEL indicated that synchronization of SPV with grid needs to be with digital
phased locked type to ensure continuous tracking and better loop response. Inverter
output needs to be for larger window so far as voltage (330 V to 460 V, L-L) and
frequency (47Hz to 52 Hz). M/s. BHEL indicated that meter must record both the export
and import from the grid and has to be very accurate. It was indicated that output DC
voltage can vary from 48 V DC to 800 V DC depending upon peak power rating of the
array. The junction box for field cable termination needs to be IP 65 rated. The SCADA
must be able to support
Real time data logging

Event logging
Supervisory control
Operational modes
Set point editing
M/s. CEL in their presentation intimated that they have installed number of solar PV
Plants both off and grid tied of various capacities and they are pioneer in the
implementation of solar PV system. They have got accredition from various agencies.
M/s. CEL indicated that inverter efficiency of about 94% - 98% available in the market
and Grid Tied solar PV system must have the following features:
Maximum power Point Tracking (MPPT)

Balancing of 3 phases
Automatic sleep mode operation at night to minimize unnecessary losses.
On Board data logging & LCD DISPLAY
Remote access facility via telephone network.
M/s. CEL also indicated scheme arrangement for 1 MW solar PV Plant which can
generate 16 MU (16 million units) per year, improve the grid voltage and will meet the
peak load as well. M/s CEL indicated that both bi-directional meter (1 meter) and
unidirectional (2 meter) may be installed.
M/s. NDPL also shared their experience on their two solar plants one 14.85 KW and
another 3.96 KW which they have installed in their training institute at CENPEID at
Rithala. M/s. NDPL also intimated that they are planning to install 1 MW plant at Keshav
Puram which is sent for DERC approval.
NDPL indicated that it intends to add 50 MW of grid tied SPV Power Plants at consumer
rooftops for 10,000 consumers @ 5 KW per consumer. The space requirement will be
700-800 Sq. feet each. For this, a policy incentive is required and suggested the
following regulatory policy support
Capex subsidy of 50% on grid tied roof top system

28
Long term loan at 8% to the end consumer (say 10-20 years)

100% tax rebate on income for export of solar energy to the grid.
Energy buy back by utility at a cost of Rs. 6.37 per unit.
Chief Engineer (DP&D) intimated that metering is not a very complicated issue. CEA
regulation on metering takes care of metering from such system and can be finalized by
the appropriate electricity regulators.
However, the metering scheme shall be
formulated in the report of Sub-Group-I.
4
The following emerged from the discussion :

1
A number of grid tied Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) Power Plants have been
operational in the country for more than 10 years successfully.
Grid tied SPV PPs of capacities 200 KW and less are normally tied to the grid on
low voltage whereas capacities more than 200 KW are tied to the grid at 11 KV
through a step up transformer however there are no fixed norms.
In the case of small DG Grid, the capacity of the SPV should not be more than
one third of the size of the grid for stable operation of grid. Installation of batteries
for storage and back up is advisable for better regulation of frequency and quality
of power.
The cost of procurement and installation of SPV Power Plants in the last 5 years
has come down significantly to about Rs. 16-19 Crores per MW from the earlier
cost of Rs. 25 Crore per MW. The cost is likely to come down further with
increase in the demand for SPV Power Plants.
Normally the cost break up of SPV Power Plant is of the order of:
SPV Module
60%
Inverter
10%
Balance Equipments
30%
In case of use of batteries, the cost of the power plant will increase by 30-40%.
The cost of battery is avoidable in case of connection with the infinite grid and
the grid supply is reliable.
There are only few companies manufacturing inverters to suite the application in
the country and therefore, generally inverters are being imported by the
manufacturer of SPV.
The SPV Power Plants are supplied with state of the art SCADA and various
protection along with monitoring of the entire SPV system.
The level of total harmonic generation from the SPV Power Plant must be limited
to 3% only.
29
10
In place of single inverter, a number of inverters can be used to avoid the higher
size cable and to improve the redundancy in the system.
11
The representative of Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) informed that

there is shortage of silicon material and Indian manufactures are importing
almost all of the silicon material being used in India. A total of about 400-500 MW
capacity for manufacturing SPV Cells is available in India. We have to augment
the manufacturing capacity in next 5 years to achieve the target of 1000 MW
generation from SPV Plants.
12
A small group comprising of following officers to study the system of Leh and
Laddakh for installation of SPV Plants and to bring out a feasibility report was
formed:
Shri Puneet Goel, Director, MoP
SE, RE, J&K
Shri C.V.S.N Murthy, AGM, BHEL
Shri Y.K. Khanduja, DM, NHPC
Shri R.K. Verma Director, CEA

This group would meet frequently to finalize SPV system for Leh and Ladakh and
submit feasibility report to sub group I. This would be a part of the report of the
sub group I. Shri R.K. Verma, Director would coordinate the activities of sub
group.
13. The representative from J&K requested to install off grid SPV Power Plants at
following locations which would also be looked into by the above group:
Nyoma
Zamskar
Nobra
Darass
14. Member (GO&D), CEA stated that separate guidelines may be prepared for
various capacities of SPV Power Plants such as for capacities upto 1 kW, for
capacities between 1 and 10 kW & for capacities more than 10 kW.
15. It was decided that BHEL / CEL/ NDPL/ ISA would provide the draft
specifications for all the items of SPV Power Plants including safety aspects to
CEA as per above for finalizing the specifications of the SPV Plant within a week
time.
The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.
30
List of Participants
1.
Shri S.M. Dhiman, Member (GO&D)
In chair
2
Shri Alok Gupta, Chief Engineer (DP&D)
3
Shri R.K. Verma, Director (DP&D)
4
Shri T.K. Saha, Director (DP&D)
5
Shri Vivek Goel, Dy. Director (DP&D)
6
Shri M.S. Sodhi, AD (DP&D)
7
Shri Raghbar Singh, AD (DP&D)
8
Shri Praveen Kamal, AD (DP&D)
Ministry of Power
Shri Puneet Goel, Director
N.H.P.C.
1
Shri M.K. Raina, ED
2
Shri Y.K. Khanduja, DM
B.E.E.
Shri Jitendra Sood, Energy Economist
NDPL
Shri Vivek Singla, GM
C.E.L.
Shri S.K. Sangal, ED
Shri R.K. Jain, AGM
K.P.C.L.
1
Dr. Tandan, MD
2
Shri Murli Dhar Rao, TD
3
Shri S. Ramesh, CE
4
Shri S.M. Jaandar
5
Shri T. Sannappa, Resident Engineer
BHEL
Shri CVSN Murthy,AGM
J&K
1
2
Shri A. Matir, CPE

Shri Shiv Kumar, EE
ISA
Shri Rajiv Jain, AD
31
Annexure-II
CALCULATION FOR PV SOLAR SYSTEM CAPACITY FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSUMER HOUSE
Total consumption(Units) per month=
Consumption (Units) per day=
Net power generation(units) required per day=
Net power generation(watts hour) required per day=
Approximate power generation losses(%) with
good inverter (12/24 V DC to 230 V AC
or high frequency CFL output)
Minimum Required Gross Power Generation=
Suns insolation factor in India for
Solar P.V. (Photo Voltaic) Panel Requirement=
(total Watt Hour requirement/insolation Factor)
(Normal SPV Panels are available in 10W, 18W, 37W and 74 W)
Number of Panels required (panels of 74 watts)=
Battery requirement
Normal autonomy of the system, minimum 1 day Total Watt requirement
of the system (Multiply with 2 for getting 1 day no sun autonomy
Minimum safety factor of the Battery=
Total power requirement in the battery(watt Hour)=
Batteries are available in Ampere Hour rating with voltage rating of

6/12/24 V DC.
converting watt Hour into Ampere Hour (Ah), divide by the battery
voltage rating
Battery Voltage
Battery Ampere hours required
=
Normally batteries are available in Ah range of 40, 60, 80, 100 and 200.
Capacity of One battery(AH)
Number of batteries=
Say
Inverter Selection
For every 1000 Watts, 1.1 KVA inverter is required.
A normal house peak load will be 2000 to 2500 watts only.
a)
b)
c)
d)
For Example
4 Tube lights for 4 hours-watts hour
2 CFL lamps for 4 hours-watts hour
1 Fan for 8 hours-watt hours
2 Fans for 4 hours-watt hours
=4 nos. x 40 watts x 4 hours

32
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
=1 no. x 600 watts x 24 hours x

1 Refrigerator for 24 hours
20%
If operated carefully, a good refrigerator motor will be on for only 20% of the time
1 T.V for 6 hours-watt hours
=1 no. x 60 watts x 6 hours
1 Mixie for 10 minutes-watt hours
=1 no. x 750 watts x 10/60 hours
1 Washing machine for ? Hour
=1 no.x 750 watts x 1/2 hour
1 water pump for ? Hour
=1 no. x 375 watts x ? Hour
Total Day's consumption(kwh)
=a+b+c+d+e+f+g+h+i
or kWh
Total month's consumption
=5.88 x 30
Or
Peak load for the Day(watts)
Refrigerator + 3 Fans + 4 Tuble lights + 1 TV
=600+180+160+60
For every 1000 Watts, 1.1 KVA inverter is recommended
Hence the inverter

requirement
33
Annexure-III
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS OF SINGLE PHASE 10-60 or 20-80 Amp

ENERGY METERS
1.0 FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION:
1.1
Applicable IS
1.2
Regulations
1.3
1.4
Accuracy Class Index

Voltage
1.5
1.6
1.7
Display
Power factor range
Display parameters
1.8
Power Consumption
1.9
1.10
1.11
1.12
Starting current
Frequency
Test Output Device
Billing data
1.13 MD Registration
IS 13779 or IS 14679 depending upon accuracy

of meters.
CEA Regulations on Installation and Operation
of Meters: ,2006
1.0 or better up to 650 V
415 Volt(P-P), +20% to -40% Vref, however the
meter should withstand the maximum system
voltage i.e. 440 volts continuously.
a) LCD (Six digits),pin type
Zero lag unity- zero lead
a) Display parameters :
LCD test, KWH import, KWH export, MD in KW
export, MD in KW import, Date & Time, AC
current and voltages and power factor
(Cumulative KWH will be indicated continuously
by default & other parameters through pushbutton)
b) Display order shall be as per Annexure-A
Less than 1 Watt & 4VA in Voltage circuit and 2
VA for Current circuit
0.2 % of Ib
50 Hz with + / - 5% variation
Flashing LED visible from the front
a) Meter serial number, Date and time, KWH
import, KWH export, MD in KW (both export and
import), History of KWH import and export, &
MD(both export & import) for last 6 billing cycles
along with TOD readings.
b) All these data shall be accessible for reading,
recording and spot billing by downloading through
optical port on MRI or Laptop computers at site.
a) Meter shall store MD in every 30 min. period
along with date & time. At the end of every 30
min, new MD shall be compared with previous
MD and store whichever is higher and the same
shall be displayed.
b) It should be possible to reset MD automatically
34
1.14 Auto Reset of MD
1.15 TOD metering
1.16 Security feature
1.17 Memory
1.18 Software &

communication
compatibility
1.19 Climatic conditions
1.20 Meter Sealing
1.21 Guarantee /
Warranty
1.22 Insulation
at the defined date (or period) or through MRI.

c) Manual MD resetting using sealable push
button is an optional.
Auto reset date for MD shall be indicated at the
time of finalizing GTP and provision shall be
made to change MD reset date through MRI even
after installation of meter on site.
Meter shall be capable of Time of use metering
for KWH, and MD in KW with 8 time zones
(programmable on site through CMRI)
Programmable facility to restrict the access to the
information recorded at different security level
such as read communication, communication
write etc
Non volatile memory independent of battery
backup, memory should be retained up to 10 year
in case of power failure
a) Optical port with RS 232 compatible to transfer
the data locally through CMRI & remote through
PSTN / Optical fiber / GSM / CDMA / RF / any
other technology to the main computer.
b) The Supplier shall supply Software required for
CMRI & for the connectivity to AMR modules. The
supplier shall also provide training for the use of
software. The software should be compatible to
Microsoft Windows systems (Windows 98
system). The software should have polling feature
with optional selection of parameters to be
downloaded for AMR application.
c) Copy of operation manual shall be supplied.
d) The data transfer (from meter to CMRI / AMR
equipment) rate should be minimum 1200 bps.
e) The Supplier shall provide meter reading
protocols.
a) Refer IS: 13779 or IS: 14697 for climatic
conditions.
b)The meter should function satisfactorily in India
with high end temperature as 60C and humidity
up to 96%.
As per CEA Regulations, Supplier shall affix one
Utility /buyer seal on side of Meter body as
advised and record should be forwarded to
Buyer.
10 Years.
A meter shall withstand an insulation test of 4 KV
35
1.23
1.24
1.25
1.26
1.27
1.28
1.29
and impulse test at 8 KV

Resistance of
The terminal block and Meter case shall have
heat and fire
safety against the spread of fire. They shall not
be ignited by thermal overload of live parts in
contact with them as per the relevant IS.
Battery
Lithium with guaranteed life of 15 Years
RTC & Micro
The accuracy of RTC shall be as per
controller
relevant IEC / IS standards
P.C.B.
Glass Epoxy, fire resistance grade
FR4, with minimum thickness 1.6 mm
Power ON/Off hrs:
Along with billing history parameters, meter shall
log monthly ON/ Off hrs as history.
Tamper Logging
Last 200 events of Magnetic tamper; single wire
tamper and top cover tamper shall be logged in
memory along with Occurrence and restoration
event data. Logic of defining tamper and OBIS
code shall be agreed before supply of meter.
Protection
against Meter shall continue to record energy or log the
HV spark:
event, incase it is disturbed externally using a
35KV spark gun/ ignition coil.
2. TAMPER & ANTI-FRAUD DETECTION/EVIDENCE FEATURES

The meter shall not get affected by any remote control device & shall continue
recording energy at least under any one or combinations of the following conditions:
2.1 I/C & O/G Interchanged

2.2 Phase & Neutral Interchanged
2.3 I/C Neutral Disconnected,
O/G Neutral & Load Connected to
Earth.
2.4 I/C Neutral disconnected,
O/G Neutral Connected To Earth
Through Resistor & Load Connected
To Earth.
2.5 I/C Neutral connected,
O/G Neutral Connected To Earth
Through Resistor & Load Connected
To Earth.
2.6 I/C (Phase & Neutral) Interchanged,
Load Connected To Earth.
Meter should record forward energy


36
2.7 I/C & O/G (Phase or

Disconnected,
Load Connected To Earth.
Neutral) Meter should record forward energy
3.0 INFLUENCE PARAMETERS

The meter shall work satisfactorily with guaranteed accuracy limit under the presence of
the following influence quantities.
a) External magnetic field 0.5 Tesla.
b) Electromagnetic field induction,
c) Radio frequency interference,
d) Vibration etc,
e) Waveform 10% of 3rd harmonics,
f) Voltage variation,
g) Electro magnetic H.F. Field,
h) D.C. immunity test,
ANNEXURE A
DISPLAY SEQUENCE FOR THE PARAMETERS
A Default Display:
Cumulative KWH to be displayed continuously without decimal
B On-demand Display:
After using pushbutton the following parameters should be displayed.
1. LCD test
2. Date
3. Real Time
4. Current MD in kW
5. Current kW generated by solar system
5. Last month billing Date
6. Last month billing KWH reading
7. Last month billing Maximum Demand in KW
8. Last month billing Maximum Demand in KW occurrence Date
9. Last month billing Maximum Demand in KW occurrence Time
10. Instantaneous AC Current and Voltages
Note: The meter display should return to Default Display mode (mentioned above)
if the push button is not operated for more than 6 seconds.
37
Annexure-IV
TYPICAL TECHNICAL PARTICULARS OF SOLAR MODULES
(160 AND 80 WATTS)
Electrical Parameters
Maximum Power Rating Pmax. (Wp)*
Minimum Power Rating Pmin (Wp)*
Rated Current IMPP
(A)
Rated Voltage VMPP
Short Circuit Current Isc
Open Circuit Voltage Voc
Module-160
160.0
150.0
4.45
(V)
(A)
(V)
36.0
5.00
44.0
Module-80
80.0
75.0
4.45
18.0
5.00
22.0
Physical Parameters
No. of Cells(Nos)
Physical Dimension (mm) (L x W x T)
72
36
1580 x 805 x 1200 x 550 x 35
42
14.2
7.4
Weight (Kg)
Environmental Rating
Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT **
0
Maximum permitted module temperature

( C)
Maximum permissible system voltage (V)
Relative Humidity at 850C
(%)
Temp. Co-efficient of the short-circuit current
Temp. Co-efficient of the open-circuit voltage
**
Under Standard Test Conditions (STC):

Air Mass : AM 1.5 Irradiance : 1000 W/m2
(0C)
49 2
-40 to + 85
1000
85
+ .0004/K
- .0034/K
Cell Temperature : 250C
Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) at :

Wind Speed :1m/s Irradiance : 800 W/m2 Ambient Temperature : 200C
Annexure-V
Technical Particulars of Solar PV System-0.5 kWp to 50 kWp
DC output of PV Array (KWp)
Area required (square feet)
No. of cells in one PV module
DC rating of one module (WP)
Connection configuration
Rated DC current of one module
Rated DC voltage of one module
(Vmpp)
No. of PV module in one array (all
in series)
Max. DC output voltage of Array
(Volt)
No. of Arrays
Rating of inverter(KVA)
Nominal AC output voltage(volt)
Variation In Output Voltage
Nominal frequency(Hz)
Grid Frequency variation
No. of phases/ wire
AC output voltage range(Grid)
Power Factor Range
Minimum Efficiency of Inverter (%)
No load Losses of Inverter(max)
DC Injection into Grid(max)
Ripple content on DC side
Total Voltage harmonic
Distortion(AC side)
Individual Voltage harmonic
Distortion(AC side)
Total Current harmonic
Distortion(AC side)
No. of AC& DC distribution
board
No. of AC distribution Board
0.5
1
3
5
10
25
50
75
150
450
750
1500
3750
7500
36
36
72
72
72
72
72
80
80
160
160
160
160
160
Cells are connected in series to form one PV module.
4.45
4.45
4.45
4.45
4.45
4.45
4.45
18
18
36
36
36
36
36
2
10
10
36
36
180
180
180
360
360
4
0.6
240
1%
50
3%
7
1.1
240
1%
50
3%
14
12
440
1%
50
3%
16
30
440
1%
50
3%
32
60
440
1%
50
3%
94
1%
1%
3%
5%
94
1%
1%
3%
5%
4
7
4
6
240
240
1%
1%
50
50
3%
3%
-20% to 15%
0.8 lag to unity
94
94
1%
1%
1%
1%
3%
3%
5%
5%
94
1%
1%
3%
5%
94
1%
1%
3%
5%
94
1%
1%
3%
5%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
Note: Manufactures may offer module of different size than 160 watt in that case the
configuration may differ slightly.
39
SCHEME-I
GRID INTERACTIVE SOLAR PV SYSTEM WITHOUT BATTERY
Utility AC BUS
SM-Solar Meter
GM
GE
GI
GM-Grid Meter
CM-consumer Meter
SW
MAIN CONSUMER PANEL
SI
CI
SM
SE
S
CM
Inverter
Consumer AC
Load
SOLAR
15
1. Switch S (built in Inverter) will open out automatically

in grid failure and closes on its restoration after a time
delay
2. Tariff for operators of solar roof top devices shall be
based on feed tariff fixed by Regulator, both on solar
power consumed by operator and the solar power
fed into the grid i.e SE
3. CI=Consumer Import, GI/GE=Grid Import & Export,
SE/SI=Solar export and Import, SW Manual
Lockable switch for grid maintenance
SCHEME-II
GRID INTERACTIVE SOLAR PV SYSTEM WITH FULL LOAD BATTERY BACKUP
(Based on Configuration-A)
SM-Solar Meter
Utility AC BUS
GM-Grid Meter
GE
GI
GM
CM-Consumer Meter
SW
Main Consumer Panel
CI
CM
S1
SE
Consumer
AC loads
Charger Cum
inverter
Battery
SI
SM
Inverter
Solar
16

delay
41
EXHIBIT-C1
SCHEME-III
MODULE
GRIDC1:
INTERACTIVE
SOLAR PV SYSTEM
SOLAR PV
WITH
SYSTEM
PARTIAL
WITH
LOAD
PARTIAL
BATTERY
LOADBACKUP
BATTERY
BACKUP
(Two(Based
inverter
onscheme)
Configuration-A)
Utility AC BUS
GE
GI
GM
SW
Main Consumer Panel
CI
CM
S1
S
SE
EMERGENCY LOAD AC PANEL
NON
EMERGENCY
AC LOADS
AC
EMERGENCY
LOADS
Inverter cum
Charger
Battery
SI
SM
S1
Inverter
Solar
17

delay
42
SCHEME-IV
GRID INTERACTIVE SOLAR PV SYSTEM WITH FULL LOAD DG BACKUP
Utility AC BUS
SM-Solar Meter
GM
GM-Grid Meter
GE
SW
CM-consumer Meter
GI
S
MAIN CONSUMER PANEL
S1
DM
DG BUS
DG
SI
CI
SM
SE
CM
DE
Inverter ~
Consumer AC
Load
SOLAR
18

delay
43
SCHEME-V
GRID INTERACTIVE SOLAR PV SYSTEM WITH PARTIAL LOAD DG BACKUP
Utility AC BUS
SM-Solar Meter
GM-Grid Meter
GE
UM
GI
CM-Consumer Meter
SW
Main Consumer Panel
CI
S1
CM
SE
SM
SI

AC
S2
NON
EMERGENCY
AC LOADS
AC
EMERGENCY
LOADS
DM
DG
DE
Inverter
Solar
19

delay
3. CI=Consumer Import, ,GI/GE=Grid Import & Export,
44
SCHEME-VI
GRID INTERACTIVE SOLAR PV SYSTEM WITH FULL LOAD BATTERY BACKUP
AND DG
(Based on Configuration Type-A)
Utility AC BUS
GI
GM
GE
S
SW
SM-Solar Meter
GM-Grid Meter
CM-Consumer Meter
MAIN CONSUMER PANEL
CI
S
SI
Battery
DM
DE
S1
Inverter Cum
Charger
DG BUS
S2
CM
AC LOADS
DG
SM
SE
inverter
~
Solar
20

delay
3. CI=Consumer Import, ,GI/GE=Grid Import & Export,
45
SCHEME-VII
GRID INTERACTIVE SOLAR PV SYSTEM WITH PARTIAL LOAD BATTERY
BACKUP AND DG
(Based on configuration-A)
Utility AC BUS
GM
GE
GI
SW
S
Main Consumer Panel
S2
CI
CM
DM
S1
DE
DG BUS
SE
S1
NON
EMERGENCY
AC LOADS
AC
EMERGENCY
LOADS
SM
SI
DG
Inverter cum
charger
Inverter
Solar
Battery
21
1. Switch S (built in Inverter) will open out automatically in

grid failure and closes on its restoration after a time delay
power consumed by operator and the solar power fed
into the grid i.e SE
SE/SI=Solar export and Import, SW Manual Lockable
switch for grid maintenance.
46
SECTION - 3
REPORT OF SUB-GROUP II & III

ON

New Delhi 110066
January 2010
REPORT OF SUB-GROUP II & III

ON

New Delhi 110066
January 2010
Report of Sub-group II & III on Integration of Solar Systems with Thermal / Hydro Power Stations
CONTENTS
Sl. No.
1
2
3
4
CONTENT
5
6
7
Background
About Solar Irradiation
Solar Generation Technologies
Solar Options for Power Stations
Technology Options
Possible Areas of Installation of Solar Plants
Integration with Thermal Stations on Steam Side
Sharing of Existing Facilities
Electrical Interconnection between Solar Thermal
and Conventional Stations
Electrical Interconnection between Solar PV
systems and Conventional Stations
Metering
Solar Power Plants in Hydro Power Stations
Tariff Projections CERC Regulations
Conclusions
Annexure
Annexure -1
Composition of Sub-Group
Page No.
2
4
5
10
10
11
12
14
15
19
20
20
21
21
23
Appendices Appendix I Solar Maps

Appendix II Excerpts from Feasibility Study
for Solar Thermal Plant in NTPC
Anta CCGT Station
Appendix III Salient Features of 140 MW
Integrated Solar Combined
Cycle Power Plant
Appendix IV Assumptions for generic
levelised tariff for solar power
plants as per CERC
January-2010
Page 1 of 24
REPORT OF SUB-GROUP II & III ON

THERMAL/HYDRO POWER STATIONS
Background
1.1
A Task Force was set up by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy
(MNRE) under the chairmanship of Chairperson CEA, vide O.M. No.
32/61/2009-10/PVSE dated 28th May 2009, to examine technical issues
relating to feasibility of integrating solar power plants with thermal/hydroelectric power plants and connectivity of solar roof top systems with grid.
Composition of the Task Force is given at enclosed Annexure-I.
The first meeting of the Task Force was held in CEA office on 18th June,
2009. During the meeting three sub-groups were formed as follows:Sub-group I
Sub-group II
Sub-group III
Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems

Integration of solar systems with thermal power stations
Integration of solar systems with hydro power stations
This report covers the salient issues relevant for installation of solar
power plants in existing thermal and hydro power stations as referred to
Sub-Group-II and III. Report of Sub-Group-I on Grid interactive rooftop
solar PV systems has been issued separately.
1.2
The Terms of Reference of the sub-group II and III are as follows:i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
To examine feasibility of integrating solar based plants with

Thermal (Coal and gas)/Hydro-electric power plants including
issues relating to availability of land and effect of fugitive ash in
coal based plants.
To suggest the feasible options for type of solar plants (PV solar
cells, solar thermal plants) for installation at thermal/hydro-electric
power plants.
To examine the feasibility of hybrid solar power systems in
thermal power plants including use of secondary fuel firing or heat
storage devices during the period when solar power is not
available.
To suggest scheme for connecting solar based plants with the
station electric supply system for thermal/hydro electric power
plants.
To suggest arrangements for metering and accounting for energy
supplied by the solar based plants.
To suggest modalities of implementation for solar based plants at
thermal/hydro electric power plants including preparation of
project report
January-2010
Page 2 of 24
1.3
The composition of the sub-groups is given below:

Sub-group-II
i)
Shri S. Seshadri, Member (Thermal), CEA - Chairman
ii)
Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE
iii)
Shri Lalit Kapur, Director, MOEF
iv)
Shri A.K Gupta,. G.M, NTPC
v)
Shri R.K. Sikri, GM, NTPC
vi)
Shri Vishnu Gupta, G.M(I/C), BHEL
vii)
Shri M. M Vijayvergia Executive Director RRECL
viii)
Shri N.M. Mathur, Chief Engineer, RRVUNL
ix)
Sh. Sanjay Sharma, Director, CEA Member-Secretary
Sub-group III
1.4
i)
Shri Suresh Chander, Chief Engineer (TE&TD), CEA - Chairman
ii)
Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE.
iii)
Dr. S. Bhowmik Addl. Director, MOE&F
iv)
Shri Vishnu Gupta, G.M (I/C), BHEL
v)
vi)
Shri Ashok Thapar Director BBMB
vii)
Shri Moti Lal Director , Hydro, CEA Member-Secretary
Deliberations of Sub-groups II & III

i) The sub-groups had three meetings on 16th July 2009, 6th August
2009 and 25th September 2009. Presentations on solar technologies
were made by various Indian suppliers developing solar technologies
in the second meeting of the sub-group on 6th August 09. In the third
meeting held on 25th September 09, presentations were made by
NTPC on the feasibility studies made for installation of a solar plant
at their Anta Combined Cycle Gas Turbine station. Visit was also
made to Bhakra hydro stations on 21.08.2009 for study of potential
for installation of solar power plant.
ii) This report of the sub-group II & III has been prepared based on the
deliberations held in the meetings of the sub-group and various
presentations made.
January-2010
Page 3 of 24
About Solar Irradiation

2.1
Extraterrestrial solar irradiation follows in a direct line from the sun to the
earth. Upon entering the earths atmosphere, global irradiation is divided
into two components direct normal component and diffused component.
The solar irradiation diffused by air, water molecules and dust within the
atmosphere is known as diffused component. The direct normal
irradiation component represents that portion of solar radiation reaching
the surface of the earth that has not been scattered or absorbed by the
atmosphere. The Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) is the integral value of
direct normal irradiance over a certain time interval and its unit is J/m or
kWh/m.
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) or solar thermal technologies can only
use the direct irradiation. The second part, the diffused irradiation cannot
be converted into beam radiation and is thus not useful for CSP.
Generally sites with annual sum of DNI larger than 1800 kWh/m are
considered as potential sites for CSP. The solar photo-voltaic (SPV)
technologies, however, utilize both direct and diffused irradiation for
electricity generation.
The DNI available at a certain site may be interpreted as fuel-resource
for a CSP plant and the annual sum of DNI as well as the seasonal and
daily distribution is very important for solar field layout and plant
performance. However, irradiance measurements are not common for
meteorological stations today and particularly long term measurements
from the past are hardly available. The main problem with DNI data from
any source is the accuracy, which is hard to determine. The validation
can only be done by a cross check of the data from different sources.
Some sources from where DNI data can be accessed are given below:
i) DLR has developed methods to derive DNI data from satellite
measurements. These services are offered under the name SOLEMI
(http://www.solemi.de/) at a cost.
ii) NASA Website (http://eosweb.larc.NASA.gov/sse/) where data tables
for a certain location and plots for a whole region are available free of
charge. The main differences between this NASA data and the DLR
satellite data are the different temporal and spatial resolution. The
NASA data contains only mean daily values for each month whereas
the DLR satellite data contains mean values for every hour of each
year. The NASA satellite data is derived from a pixel size of
30km30km whereas the DLR satellite data is derived from a pixel
size of 3km4km.
iii) The third source of irradiation data is a software tool called
METEONORM 6.0 (http://www.meteonorm.com/) which provides a
method for the calculation of solar radiation on arbitrarily orientated
January-2010
Page 4 of 24
surfaces and other meteorological data at any desired location with

hourly resolution.
iv) The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden
Colorado, USA has prepared a DNI map of Asia with a 40km
resolution for SWERA (http://swera.unep.net). This map does not
provide specific information but it may be used for further
investigation of potential CSP sites in India.
2.2
A few solar maps are appended at Appendix- I for reference. These

include global solar map of India for global radiations (source: TERI) and
DNI maps for Asia and North-west India by NREL.
3 Solar Generation Technologies

3.1
Solar power generation technologies can be broadly classified into two

broad types as under:i)
ii)
3.2
Solar Photovoltaic technologies

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies
The Solar Photovoltaic technologies convert sunlight falling on to a

photovoltaic (PV) cell directly into D.C. electricity which is then converted
into AC by inverters. This technology has several variants based on the
type of photovoltaic materials used. Tracking and concentrating systems
are also used to focus sunlight on to the PV modules to improve the
system efficacy and enhance generation. Application of PV systems is
generally limited to rooftops on residential and commercial buildings,
though utility scale plants are also possible.
The Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) technologies have been covered in detail in
Report of Sub-Group-I on Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems.
3.3
In Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, also known as Solar

Thermal plants, solar energy is focused through various types of mirrors
to heat a working fluid and produce steam (directly or indirectly through
an intermediate heating fluid). Steam is then used to rotate a turbine or
power an engine to drive a generator and produce electricity as in a
conventional power block. CSP technology are better suited for utility
scale power plants as compared to SPV technologies.
These technologies are of following four types, characterised by the type
of mirror used to collect solar energy. A brief description of these
technologies is given below and their comparison is drawn in Table-I.
January-2010
Page 5 of 24
Parabolic trough is well established and most proven CSP technology

and commercial plants upto 80 MW size are in operation.
Parabolic trough shaped mirrors collect and reflect the solar energy onto
receiver tubes positioned along the focal line of parabolic mirrors.
Troughs are made to rotate on a north-south axis to track the sun from
east to west. Heat transfer fluid (synthetic oil), suitable for temperatures
upto 400 deg C, flowing through these receiver tubes is used to generate
steam through steam generators and drive turbine to generate electricity.
Solar Towers deploy numerous large number of flat sun tracking mirrors,
known as heliostats, to focus sunlight onto a fixed receiver mounted on a
tower. The heliostats tack the sun on two axes. The central receiver can
achieve very high concentrations of solar irradiation thus resulting in
extremely high temperature for the operating fluid. Most of the concepts
for solar tower utilize a Rankine cycle as power conversion process. Heat
of the absorber coolant is transferred in separate heat exchangers to a
water/steam cycle as in conventional steam power plants. Direct steam
generation, without any intermediate fluid, is also possible. Steam
parameters upto 100 bars and 560 deg C are achievable. Brayton cycle
is the focus of development to increase efficiency levels.
January-2010
Page 6 of 24
Spain has several solar tower systems operating or under construction.

Maximum size in operation is 20 MW. Most of the realized pilot and demo
solar tower facilities have thermal storage facility incorporated to improve
the dispatchability of the plant. Nevertheless these storage solutions have
the drawback of higher initial investment costs and higher land
requirements.
Linear Fresnel Reflectors technology uses a reflector made of several
slices of mirrors with small curvature approximating a parabola. Mirrors are
mounted on trackers and configured to reflect sunlight onto a receiver tube
fixed in space above these mirrors. These Fresnel reflectors offer direct
steam generation and thus omit intermediate high transfer fluid.
January-2010
Page 7 of 24
These systems have lower investment costs and also lower optical
performance as compared to parabolic trough collectors. This technology
is in developmental stage and some small experimental systems have
been realised.
Solar Dish The parabolic shaped dish tracks the sun, through a two axis
movement, continuously to gather the solar energy and point focuses the
same onto a thermal receiver (mounted at the focal point) to heat up the
fluid. Heat from the thermal receiver is used to produce electricity through
Stirling Engine.
Dish technology is modular and produces relatively small amount of

electricity compared to other CSP technologies typically in the range of
10 to 25 kW which results in high capital costs. Distributed dish concept
with common power conversion unit was also adopted in eighties but is
not the focus of development any more due to heat loss during heat
transportation over long distances.
January-2010
Page 8 of 24
Parameter
TABLE-I : COMPARISON OF CSP TECHNPLOGIES

Solar Thermal (CSP ) Technologies
Parabolic Trough
Solar Tower
Fresnel Reflector
(CFLR)
Site Solar Characteristics/ Solar

radiation required
Land Requirement
Typical shape of solar plant
Rectangle
Water Requirement
Maximum Temperature
400 deg C
Efficiency
Typical CUF
Plant cost
Largest plant size
Development Status
Plants installed
Technology Providers
Solar Dish
Generally sites with annual sum of DNI larger than 1800 kWh/m
~ 14%
80 MW
Most proven
-9 SEGS plants (14 MW to 80
MW) in California built from
1985 to 1991 Total capacity :
354 MW
- Nevada Solar One (64 MW)
started in 2007
Sener
Solar Millenium
Abengoa
ACS-Cobra
Acciona
Solel
January-2010
Typically 5-7 acres/MW

Sector of a circle/
Rectangle
Rectangle
3
Typically 4m /MWhr
270 deg C
400 deg C
Possible upto 560 deg C
~17%
Possible upto 22%
Typically 22-25%
Lower than parabolic trough Lower than parabolic trough
20 MW
5 MW
Mature
Demonstration
used for FW
-Planta Solar 10 and Planta - 9MWth
Solar 20 are in operation heating in 2000 MW coal
with capacities of 11 and 20 fired Liddell Power plant
MW in Seille Spain
(Australia)
-Sierra Sun Tower USA 5 - Two small capacity
MW
experimental
plants
in
- Solar Two plant (10 MWe) Spain in 2007
with molten salt storage- - 1.4 MWe at Murcia, Spain
in 2009
demo plant
Abengoa
eSolar
Sener
BrightSource
Torresol
Solarreserve
Page 9 of 24
Austra
MAN Ferrostaal
Rectangle
No water requirement
800 deg C
~ 22-24%
Very High
Demonstration
Small operational plants
with unit size of 10-25 kW
Stirling Energy Systems
4 Solar options for Power Stations

Technology Options
4.1
From the discussions in the foregoing para, it may be seen that the
options for solar generation at any power station would depend upon the
following:
4.2
As mentioned above, adequate direct normal component of solar

irradiation is necessary for solar thermal plants. Normally a solar
irradiation (DNI) of 1800 kWh/m2 is considered necessary for solar
thermal plants. Solar PV plants can, however, utilize global radiations
including diffused components. Thus solar irradiations available at a
location is the prime consideration for selection of technology.
4.3
thermal is to be considered. When land is available in several scattered
patches, rather than a contiguous piece, then Solar photovoltaic plants
could be considered. Following considerations should also be kept in
view regarding land:
i)
ii)
iii)
Land should be flat with 1-3% gradient or less.

North- south orientation is preferred.
Aspect ratio of land should be commensurate with the technology
Economy of solar thermal improves with scale of plant. For sites suitable
for higher size solar thermal plants, presently parabolic trough technology
is the most proven and widely deployed technology. For this technology,
50 MW plant would be ideal from techno-economics point of view though
lower sizes (10-20 MW) can be considered depending on availability of
land. NTPC have prepared feasibility report for a 15 MW plant at Anta
CCGT plant based on parabolic trough technology.
For solar tower technology, maximum 20 MW plant is operational. This
technology is available in 2.5 MW modules also. Fresnel reflector and
dish technologies are at demonstration stage and, if considered, can be
deployed for still lower sizes.
4.4
Solar thermal plants require water for cooling tower blowdown and DM
make up. Usually water requirement is 4 M3/MWh. Additionally, some
water is also required for washing of mirror panels and requirement
varies with location depending on dust levels.
January-2010
Page 10 of 24
4.5
In hydro stations large tract of continuous land are generally not

available. Also the hydro stations have no facilities for supplying warm up
steam etc to solar thermal power plant. Thus solar PV systems may be
the only choice for hydro stations. Details of solar PV technology are
covered in the Report of Sub-Group-I on Grid interactive rooftop solar
PV systems.
4.6
Solar thermal plants are sometimes provided with heat storage systems
to improve the despatchability. For this purpose, additional solar field is
provided to cater for storage which can then be used for generation
during off-sun hours; else storage systems can only facilitate shifting
solar generation from on-sun to off-sun period for peaking purposes etc.
Providing additional solar field for storage systems is not only expensive;
it would also require additional land for the storage system itself and also
for additional solar field. Storage systems constitute major cost of the
solar thermal plants, accounting for almost 70-80 % of the total plant
costs.
In the context of power stations, storage systems are obviously not
necessary. The limited objective of keeping the solar power generation
equipment in hot condition can be met by supplying steam to the solar
power plant from the auxiliary steam supply of the thermal station.
4.7
Hybrid plant operation has also been adopted to increase capacity

utilization of solar plant even without storage systems. The solar thermal
plants in California employ gas fired boilers to supplement power
generation during off-sun hours. Such an arrangement appears to have
been provided as a means to improve quantum and reliability of power
supply to the grid as these are large solar plants. One solar tower based
system has been commissioned in Kibbutz Samar in Israel which has 30
different heliostats tracking the sun and directing solar energy to the top
of a 30m tall tower. The tower also houses a micro-turbine that can be
run on solar thermal, as well as bio-diesel, natural gas or biogas,
particularly when the sun goes down.
Possible areas of installation of solar plants

4.8
The choice of areas for solar plants in existing Thermal Power Stations
could be:
Open land areas not intended for any future expansion

Abandoned ash ponds in coal fired stations
Areas in existing green belt subject to MOE&F approval
Roof top of turbine hall (for PV systems)
Roof top in administrative building, guest houses, and large
buildings (for PV systems)
January-2010
Page 11 of 24
4.9
The land chosen should be away from high dust areas like coal and ash
handling plants and their fugitive emissions. In case of abandoned ash
pond lands, suitable surface improvement may be required to prevent
ash carry over and deposition on solar field. Washing arrangement for
solar field would have to be provided commensurate with the expected
dust levels in the vicinity.
4.10
Land availability would vary at each plant. Land availability at two thermal
plants is indicated below as an example:
- 1000x700 M2 at Anta CCGT plant of NTPC
- Two plots of 1200 mtrX200 mtr and 600 mtrX 200 mtr at Suratgarh
Thermal power plant of RRVUNL.
NTPC have assessed the solar capacity of 15 MW at Anta CCGT plant in
70 hectare plot. Per MW area requirement is high because of gas pipeline
passing through the plant which cannot be relocated. It is estimated that
about 15 MW capacity can be installed in 36 hectare area available at
Suratgarh TPP.
Integration with Thermal Stations on steam side

4.11
Solar thermal plants generate steam from solar heat and thus
conceptually it should be feasible to utilize the solar heat (steam) in
existing thermal cycles of the coal or gas based stations to achieve fuel
savings and reduced CO2 emissions. This type of integration can result in
a) elimination of power conversion equipment (steam turbine generator
etc) for the solar plant thus reducing the cost of solar thermal plants and
b) increase the efficiency of solar thermal plant due to higher efficiency
of higher size steam-turbine generator.
4.12
Some plants of Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Systems (ISCCS) i.e. a

combination of solar field and fossil fuel fired combined cycle power
plants, are under construction but none is under operation. These
include:
i) 30 MWe parabolic trough field (130000 m collector area) integrated
into a146 MWe CCPP at Kuraymat, Egypt.
ii) 20 MWe parabolic trough field (183000 m collector area) integrated
into a 472 MWe CCPP at Ain-Beni-Mathar, Morocco.
iii) 25 MWe parabolic trough field (180000 m collector area) integrated
into a 150 MWe CCPP at Hassi-R'mel, Algeria..
It is also feasible to integrate solar thermal with coal fired power plants.
One example of this integration, also the only one, is Fresnel reflector
technology based 9MW solar thermal plant integrated with 2000 MW
Liddle coal fired plant in Australia.
January-2010
Page 12 of 24
4.13
The possible areas of integration with thermal stations on steam side can
be identified as
i)
Using solar steam for feed water heating
ii)
Mixing solar steam with main steam inside boiler/HRSG or in pipe

en-route to turbine.
iii)
Injecting solar steam directly in turbine at some intermediate stage.
iv)
Separate back pressure turbine for solar steam and exhaust to

existing plant condenser.
Using solar steam for Feed Water (FW) heating may appear to be least
cumbersome as solar steam would not be fed to the turbine. However, in
coal fired plants, feed water heating is done partially in the regenerative
cycle and then the FW is fed to the economizer. Replacing or
supplementing regenerative cycle feed water heating with solar heating
would involve taking the existing FW heaters out by closing their
extractions and the adverse thermodynamic impact on the turbine cycle
heat rate would have to studied. Further, even physically installing the
solar steam based FW heaters in the turbine hall area and routing solar
steam pipes to the turbine hall from the solar field may pose severe
space constraints in view of compact and optimized turbine hall layout.
Also the additional pressure drops in FW circuit may necessitate
installation of additional FW pumps or augmenting boiler feed pumps
which may not be possible.
Heating FW after the regenerative cycle so as to have higher than design
FW temperature at entry to boiler thus reducing the economizer duty may
also not serve much purpose as in existing boilers it will only increase the
flue gas exit temperature thus increasing the flue gas losses and not
leading to any fuel savings. Besides, the physical constraints of installing
solar FW heaters and problem of meeting additional pressure drop in FW
circuit would remain. Similar issues are likely in using solar steam for FW
heating in CCGT stations.
Mixing solar steam to Main Steam would require special mixing
arrangement due to difference in temperature of solar steam and Main
steam. Also variation in solar irradiation over the day and during various
seasons may involve large variations in the solar steam quantity and
parameters thus leading to changes in aggregate steam quality to the
turbine. Fluctuating steam flow to the turbine and large variation in steam
parameters may involve stress implications on the Steam Turbine and
will have to be examined in consultation with turbine manufacturer.
January-2010
Page 13 of 24
Injecting solar steam in turbine intermediate stages is virtually ruled out in

existing turbines as the turbines have very little flow margins available,
primarily for operational degradations.
4.14
The feasibility of integrating solar power plant with existing station on the
steam side were also examined in the Feasibility study for solar plant at
Anta CCGT station got conducted by NTPC through Evonic, Germany.
The salient extracts of possible integrating options examined and findings
are given at Appendix-II. As may be seen, integration options involved:
Issues of mismatch of steam parameters of solar and

conventional power station steam, (especially under
fluctuation of flow and parameters of solar steam due to
fluctuation in solar conditions) and sub-optimal steam use
Margins available in existing equipment to accommodate
additional steam flow from solar field
Concerns about impact on existing performance of the
stations
It was finally decided to go for standalone 15 MW solar thermal plant.

4.15
Thus, integration on the steam side to the existing station is expected to

be too cumbersome. This may also disturb the existing cycle and involve
issues of performance reliability of the existing station. Thus, the solar
plants in existing TPS may be considered as a stand alone plant without
any inter-connection to the steam side of the station.
However, integrated solar plants with gas plants could be considered for
new stations depending on site specific factors for which site specific
techno-economics and feasibility studies would be required. It may not be
advisable to integrate solar plant with new coal based plants since
turbine-generators in coal based plants are of standard rating and there
would be no increase in the power output by solar thermal energy.
It may be mentioned here that a 140 MW Integrated Solar Combined
Cycle Power Power Plant with solar component of 35 MW and gas
turbine component of 105 MW was conceived at Mathania, Rajasthan.
CEA had given its techno-economic clearance to the plant in the year
1999. However, the plant could not materialize due to high prices of
Naphtha, non-availability of gas and some other reasons. Details of this
plant are given in enclosed Appendix III.
Sharing of Existing Facilities

4.16
Even for a standalone solar thermal plant, the existing station facilities
would require to be shared with the solar power plant and it needs to be
ensured that appropriate provisions exist for the same in the existing
January-2010
Page 14 of 24
station systems. Typical station facilities required to be shared in case

of solar thermal plants are as under:
DM Water
Circulating water make up
Auxiliary steam
Auxiliary electricity supply
Fire fighting system
i) Solar thermal plants need DM water for the power cycle initial filling
as well as cycle make up. The typical make up quantity can be taken
similar to the conventional power cycle at about 3% of the cycle flow.
In addition, if the solar field washing is also required to be done by
DM water, the water requirement for same would also have to be
considered. Frequency of washing, quality and quantity of water for
washing would have to be ascertained from suppliers of solar field.
ii) In all probabilities, separate cooling tower would have to be installed
for solar thermal power plant. However, the circulating water
requirement would have to be met from the existing station CW
system.
iii) The solar thermal plant may need auxiliary steam supply for initial
warm up of the power plant island so as to enable faster start up of
solar plant.
iv) The existing fire fighting system would required to be extended to
cover the solar thermal plant also.
v) The issue related to auxiliary supply is discussed subsequently.
Electrical Interconnection between Solar Thermal and conventional Stations
4.17
Following options are available for integration of solar thermal power with
electrical system of existing plant.

Solar power connected to Generator bus of existing plant (Option-I)

Solar power connected to plant 6.6kV unit/ station bus (Option-II)
Solar power evacuation to grid through new switchyard bay
(Option-III)
The site specific interconnection scheme may be required depending on the

techno-economics of various options.
i)
Solar power connected to Generator bus of existing plant (Option-I)

Generator voltage of solar thermal plant is likely to differ from that of
existing plant. Either solar generator is required to be customized as per
January-2010
Page 15 of 24
existing generator bus voltage level or is to be stepped up by a

transformer. Further, size of existing generator-transformer may not
have adequate margin to take up solar power also. In addition, following
issues will also need to be considered, if this option is to be deployed:
a)
b)
Feasibility of connection to generator bus from point of view of

availability of space.
Operation of solar plant in the event of tripping of existing unit
The scheme is shown in Exihibit-I.

OPTION - I
Switchyard Bus
Station
Trans
Gen
Trans
Unit tap-off
Unit
Tran
Gen
Trans
6.6kV Station Bus
6.6kV Unit Bus
M3
Unit
loads
Station
loads
M1
Tran
s
415V Station Bus
Solar Gen
Note:
M1 Main Meter
M2 Aux. Consumption Meter
M3 Check Meter
M1 M2 = Net Solar Energy
generated
M2
Station
loads
EXHIBIT - I
January-2010
Aux. load
solar
thermal
Page 16 of 24
ii)
Solar power connected to plant 11/ 6.6kV unit/ station bus
(Option-II)
In this option, solar power will be used to meet part of the auxiliary power
consumption of the existing plant. It is preferable to connect solar power to
station bus so that it would be possible to evacuate solar power in the event
of tripping of one of the units. An auxiliary transformer would be required to
match the solar power with the voltage level of the unit/ station bus. The
following aspects need to be studied before deciding for implementation of
this option:
a)
b)
Solar power should be less than the load on unit/ station bus
With the addition of solar generation, the fault level of the existing
switchgears will increase and the existing switchgear, bus duct etc.
may or may not be adequate to meet the new fault level.
Feasibility of connection from point of view of availability of space
Changes required in present protection scheme, logic of operation
etc.
c)
d)
The scheme is shown below

OPTION - II
Switchyard Bus
Station
Trans
Gen
Trans
Gen
Unit
Trans
11/ 6.6kV Station Bus
11/ 6.6kV Unit

Bus
Unit
loads
Station
loads
Trans
415V Station Bus

M3
M1
Note:
M1 Main Meter
M2 Aux. Consumption Meter
M3 Check Meter
M1 M2 = Net Solar Energy
generated
M2
Station
loads
Solar Gen
Aux. load
solar
thermal
EXHIBIT - II
January-2010
Page 17 of 24
iii)
Solar power evacuation to grid through additional switchyard bay

(Option-III)
In this option, generated voltage by solar plant will be stepped up to

switchyard voltage level through transformer and connected to the grid. No
modification/ augmentation are envisaged in the electrical system of the
plant. Since additional bay will have to be added, the availability of space in
the existing switchyard need to be studied before deciding for
implementation of this option.
The scheme is shown in Exihibit-III.
By-pass Bus
OPTION - III
Main Bus - II
Existing/ New
Switchyard Bus
Main Bus - I
Note:
1) Switching schemes may be one other than
the Two mains and By-pass bus arrangements
shown here.
2) M1 Main Meter
3) M2 Aux. Consumption Meter
4) M3 Check Meter
5) M1 M2 = Net Solar Energy generated
415V Station Bus (Existing plant)

Trans
M3
M2
Station
loads
M1
Aux. load
solar
thermal
Solar Gen
EXHIBIT - III
Auxiliary Power requirement of Solar Thermal Plant

4.18
Solar thermal plant requires auxiliary power of about 8% when solar plant
is in operation and about 1% during off sun hours. Besides, solar thermal
plant will daily require start up power. It is preferred to tap off feeder from
January-2010
Page 18 of 24
existing station switchgear for auxiliary power/start up power requirement

of solar plant at required voltage level.
Electrical Interconnection between Solar PV system and conventional
Stations
4.19
Generally, in an existing plant vacant space is available in scattered areas

and also on the roof-top of buildings. In case the space available is
shadow free, independent Solar Photovoltaic system may be installed to
generate electricity and power may be fed into the respective switchgear
nearby at 3 ph 415V or higher voltage levels. SPV output of the inverter
shall be synchronized automatically to the exact AC voltage and frequency
of the system. Typical schematic diagram is illustrated the sketch below:
SOLAR PV SYSTEM (SPV)
SWITCHGEAR
SW
Load
M1
SW - Manual lockable
switch M1 - Solar Energy
Meter
Inverter
Solar PV Array
Notes:
Normally solar PV system is
tied with switchgear. In case
of failure, switch S in
inverter
will
open
automatically within 20 - 30
msec.
Following suggested criteria shall be considered for selection of voltage

level of Solar PV system:
i. Up to 10kW solar PV system : 1 phase, 240V supply
ii. Above 10kW and upto 100kW solar PV system,: 3 phase, 415V supply
iii. Above 100kW and upto 1.5MW: 6.6/ 11kV level.
iv. Above 1.5MW and upto 5 MW: 11/ 33/ 66kV level or as per the site
condition
January-2010
Page 19 of 24
For further details regarding connectivity of solar PV systems, Report of

Sub-Group-I on Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems may be
referred.
Metering
4.20
As shown in the Exihibits I-III above, three nos. meters shall be provided
two (one main meter and one check meter) for metering solar energy
generated and another for auxiliary power consumed by the solar thermal
plant. Tariff for solar generation shall be provided for the net energy
generated after deducting auxiliary power consumed. Meters shall
interface type complying with the requirements of CEA Regulations on
Installation and Operation of Meters.
5 Solar Power Plants in Hydro Power Stations

5.1
The sub-group made a visit to Bhakra hydro stations to ascertain the

feasibility of installing solar plants. It is seen that areas around the dam
have a hilly terrain with dense vegetation. Such topography is not
considered suitable for installing solar power plants. The spillway slope
could have been considered but is facing north and thus not suitable.
However depending on suitable direction, such areas could be possible
choice for installing solar plants.
5.2
Roof tops in Ganguwal and Kotla power houses and fore-bay areas
measuring about 2580 m2 were found suitable for solar PV systems.
These areas can support solar PV of about 150 kW capacity. In addition
rooftop of Nangal Dam workshop Building and vacant land near guest
house were also identified for solar PV systems. The dimensions/area
available and possible solar plant capacity are being worked out by
BBMB. BBMB also proposed to install floating solar panels on the canal
downstream of the Kotla and Ganguwal power houses. Specific studies
may be required to examine the feasibility of floating systems.
5.3
From the visit it is seen that large tract of continuous land are generally
not available in hydro stations; also the hydro stations have no facilities
for supplying warm up steam etc to solar thermal power plant. Thus solar
PV systems may only be considered for hydro stations. The possible
areas of installation could be power house roof tops, fore-bays, colony
roof tops, open grounds etc. Floating solar PV panels if found feasible
can also be considered in canals or dam areas.
5.4
For such solar PV systems in Hydro stations, Report of Sub-Group-I on

Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems may be referred to.
January-2010
Page 20 of 24
6 Tariff Projections CERC Regulations

6.1
CERC has notified Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and

Conditions for Tariff determination from Renewable Energy Sources)
Regulations, 2009 and also issued orders for the generic tariffs for the
financial year 2009-10 for renewable energy sources including solar PV
and solar thermal based power projects. As per these orders, generic
levellised tariff has been worked out as under by CERC:
Figs (Rs./kWh)
Parameter
Levelised Tariff
Solar PV
18.44
Solar
Thermal
13.45
Parametric Assumptions for the above levelised tariff are given in

Appendix-IV.
7 Conclusion
7.1
The options for solar generation at any power station would depend upon
the following:
7.2
Adequate direct normal component of solar irradiation is necessary for

solar thermal plants. Normally a solar irradiation (DNI) of 1800 kWh/m2 is
considered necessary for solar thermal plants. Solar PV plants can,
however, utilize global radiations including diffused component. Thus
solar irradiations available at a location is the prime consideration for
selection of technology.
thermal is to be considered. Further in case solar thermal plant is
envisaged, water availability of approx. 4 m3/MWh has to be ensured.
7.3
When continuous tract of land are not available to suit solar thermal
plants, and land is available in several scattered patches, then Solar
photovoltaic plants could be considered. For hydro stations solar PV
systems would only be feasible. As a rule of thumb these plants require
about 20 m2 for each kW of installed capacity and assessment of feasible
capacity can be made based on total land/rooftop areas available.
January-2010
Page 21 of 24
7.4
In case of solar power plant in coal based stations, location should be

away from high dust areas like vicinity of coal and ash handling plants.
Also washing requirements of solar field/solar panels would have to be
ascertained from the suppliers.
7.5
Integration of solar thermal plants on the steam side to the existing

station is a cumbersome proposition. Thus, the solar plants in existing
TPS may be considered as a stand alone plant without any interconnection to the steam side of the station. However, integrated solar
plants with conventional gas based plants could be considered for new
stations depending on site specific factors for which site specific technoeconomics and feasibility studies would be required.
7.6
Various options available for integration of solar thermal power with

electrical system of existing gas based plant have been discussed in the
report and as brought out, electrical integration with the option of
additional switch yard bay comes out to be the most suitable amongst all
the options. However, site specific studies are required regarding the
interconnection before finalizing the scheme.
7.7
Considering the high tariff of solar power, two meters (one main and one
check meter) may be provided for solar electricity generated. Suitable
metering arrangements would also be required for measurement of
auxiliary power consumption of the solar thermal plant from the existing
station electric supply.
7.8
All thermal and hydro generating utilities should explore the potential of
installing solar plants in vacant land of their existing stations. Detailed Project
Report for the specific project would be required to be developed by a

consultant to study the feasibility of the solar power plant, technology to
be employed, generation projections, cost estimates etc. A brief
summary of Feasibility Study for Solar Thermal Plant in NTPC -Anta
CCGT station is enclosed at Appendix-II for reference.
***
January-2010
Page 22 of 24
Annexure-I composition of subgroup
January-2010
Page 23 of 24
January-2010
Page 24 of 24
APPENDICES
Appendix I
Solar Maps
Appendix-II
Excerpts from Feasibility Study for Solar Thermal Plant in NTPC Anta CCGT station
Appendix-III
Salient features of 140 MW Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Power

Plant
Appendix IV
Assumptions for generic levelised tariff for solar power plants as per
CERC
January-2010
Appendix-I Solar Maps
Global Solar Radiation Map of India

Source TERI
January-2010
Page 1 of 3
January-2010
Page 2 of 3
DNI Map of North- west India
January-2010
Page 3 of 3
Appendix-II
Feasibility Study for Solar Thermal Plant in NTPC -Anta

CCGT station
1.
Anta Gas Power Plant is a Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) owned
and operated by NTPC, which consists of three gas turbines of 88.7 MW
capacity each and a condensing steam turbine of 153.28 MW having a peak
load capacity of 164.14 MW. Thus, the total installed capacity is 419.38
MW. Feasibility Study for installation of solar generation at Anta CCGT
station has been done by NTPC. The study was done by Evonik Energy
Services, Germany through KFW, Germany.
2.
Anta site was chosen due to good solar irradiation. The direct normal
irradiation (DNI) at Anta is 2090 kWh/m2 which is comparable with southern
part of Spain where number of solar thermal plants are under construction.
3.
Anta TPS has 175 acres of vacant land on which the proposed solar plant
would be installed. Area available for solar field would be 1000 m x 700 m.
The available land at Anta is considered suitable for supporting 15 MW
solar power plant. More compact solar field is possible. However, this
would require relocating the gas pipe line which is running in the centre of
the plot and is not considered desirable by NTPC. Thus the solar field has
been divided into two parts which appropriate clearance for the pipeline.
The solar field would generate steam at 30 bar, 370 deg C.
4.
Possibilities of connecting the solar plant to the existing CCGT station on

the steam side were examined but not found feasible due to fluctuating
steam output from the solar plant and large difference in the steam
parameters from the solar field and CCGT station. Hence, standalone plant
of 15 MW capacity is proposed. Such integration may, however, be possible
in new CCGT stations where initial designs itself could incorporate the
requirements of the solar integration
5.
Parabolic trough technology has been chosen as several plants of this

technology are operating in California for more than 20 years. Other
technologies considered were Fresnel collector, solar tower and parabolic
dish collectors which are stated to be in demonstration phase.
6.
Net solar generation of 32163 MWh per year has been estimated
considering 10% discount on DNI and plant availability of 96%. This works
out to capacity utilization factor of 24.5%. The Auxiliary load for solar plant
is estimated to be 1.7 MW when the plant is in service and 0.2 MW when
the plant is not in service
7.
The water requirements are estimated as under:DM water consumption
10,000 m3 per year
January-2010
Page 1 of 5
CW water consumption 183,000 m3 per year

Total water consumption- 193,000 m3 per yr
Thus the total water requirement works out to be about 6m3/MWh. The
water requirement would be met from existing plant. Also adequate
provisions for cooling water system, raw water storage, DM water exist in
the existing CCGT station.
8.
Various options for integrating the solar plant with the existing pant on the
electrical side were also considered. Options to connect the proposed solar
plant to the existing generator bus ducts, 6.6 KV station supply and 220 KV
Switchyard were studied. The brief findings in regard to interconnection
options are as under:Option-I Interconnection to existing generator bus ducts
The fault current rating of existing IPB is exceeded.

Layout constraints for tap-off connection to new Solar
Generator
Load sharing between two generators of dissimilar ratings and
circulating current through their grounding system is
considered undesirable
Option-II Interconnection to 6.6 KV station supply
The fault level with 10 MW solar generation increases to

22KA(rms), which is beyond the present capacity requiring
complete replacement of complete HT switchgear.
Option-III Interconnection to 220 kV switchyard
Addition of one no. 220 kV bay required along with

equipments and protection.
Modification of bus bar protection system required.
Step up Transformer required GenV/220 kV (12.5 MVA)
Finally the option of Interconnection to 220 kV switchyard was adopted.

9.
Operation and Financial parameters considered :
Plant output
Plant availability
Total capital cost with IDC
Cost per MW
Debt : Equity ratio
Euro grant from KFW
Interest rate on Kfw loan
January-2010
15 MW
96%
Rs. 367.5 Crores
Rs. 24.5 Crore
70:30
5 million Euro
3.5%
Page 2 of 5
Interest rate on Rupee loan

Repayment period Kfw loan
Foreign exchange variation
O&M cost
O&M escalation factor
Contingency for solar panel cost
Contingency for other plant cost
Levelised cost of Generation
Base case
With 5 million Euro grant
With 5 million Euro grant + CDM
Benefits
Base case + consultancy cost of 1
million Euro
10.
12%
12 years and grace of 3
years
Not considered
Rs. 43.8 lakh per MW
NIL
10%
5%
Rs.8.47 per kWh
Rs. 8.29 per kWh
Rs. 8.29 per kWh
Rs. 8.63 per kWh
The above study could serve as a typical reference/bench mark for

guidance. However specific studies would be required for each site to
establish the feasible solar field configurations, solar outputs, equipment
efficiency and cost of generation.
Study of Integration of Solar Power Plant with Existing CCGT Station

11.
The original aim of the Anta study was to assess the feasibility and
economy of an extension by a solar collector field to increase generation
capacity of the existing steam turbine at Anta. The peak load capacity of
individual GT at Anta is 94.17 MW each and STG of 164.14 MW. Thus the
existing steam turbine had margin available for taking solar steam and this
originally led to the idea to analyze the extension of the CCPP by a solar
collector field by integrating solar generated steam into the existing CCPP
with the possibility of raising the output of the steam turbine.
12.
Several potential integration concepts with variations were evaluated during

the study. The integration options considered were:12.1.
To integrate the solar steam into the HP-drums of the existing

HRSGs
12.2.
To integrate the solar steam between two super heaters of the

existing HRSGs
12.3.
To integrate the solar steam of 370C into the main steam (of
485C) pipe via new mixing arrangement.
12.4.
To superheat the solar steam of 370C in a separate fired

superheater to bring it to 485C before integrating it into the main
steam (of 485C) pipe.
January-2010
Page 3 of 5
13.
12.5.
Solar steam to be used in a new Back-pressure Turbine

Generator and exhaust of the BPST to be mixed with LP steam at
LPT inlet.
12.6.
Solar steam to be used in a new Condensing Turbine Generator

and exhaust of the CST to be connected to condenser of the
existing power plant
The option to integrate the solar steam into the HP-drums could not be
adopted due to the following reasons:
Solar steam would have required to be de-superheated to match the

steam temperature inside drum thus leading to loss in efficiency
Solar steam piping need to be connected to each of the three drums
so that solar plant operates even when one of the gas turbine is
working. This would have involved lot of complex pipe work
Steam would be required to be injected in each drum in proportion of
the gas turbine load needing complex control logics.
Shut down of the entire plant for integration work would be required
leading to loss in revenue.
14.
The option to integrate the solar steam between two super heaters of the
existing HRSGs was not considered in detail due to the fact that the super
heaters of the HRSGs are difficult to access for modification, A major
modification of 20 years old HRSGs was not considered desirable.
15.
The option to integrate the solar steam of 370C into the main steam (of
485C) pipe via new mixing arrangement was considered in detail.
However it could not be adopted due to the following reasons:
16.
It involved a temperature difference of around 100C between HP

Main steam and Solar Steam and thus required special mixing
arrangement.
Stress implications on the Steam Turbine due to frequent changes in
main steam temperature.
Lower HP steam temperature at turbine inlet due to mixing of solar
steam would lead to higher mass flow for the turbine. Thus the
margin available in the turbine was getting further reduced.
Due to implications on the turbine OEM consultation was felt
necessary for this option
The option to superheat the solar steam of 370C in a separate fired

superheater to bring it to 485C was considered in detail. However it could
not be adopted due to the following reasons:
Superheating the solar steam at 370C in a separate fired

superheater was required to bring it to 485C before integrating into
the main steam (at 485C) pipe.
January-2010
Page 4 of 5
Separate fired superheater would have needed supplemental heating

by gas-fired burners thus increasing gas consumption.
Also the new gas fired superheater would have a low efficiency
compared to the CCPP.
Also it would have been difficult to separate the electrical output from
the solar side and the conventional leading to possible problems with
the regulators.
17.
Using Solar steam in a new Back-pressure Turbine Generator with exhaust

of the BPST to be mixed with LP steam at LPT inlet of existing steam
turbine involved partially unloading the GTs as otherwise the max flow rate
of LP turbine was getting exceeded.
18.
Installing a new Condensing Turbine Generator for Solar steam and

connecting exhaust of the CST to condenser of the existing power plant
involved serious installation difficulties it required construction of new
pedestal close to the existing STG which might have posed be a serious
problem. Also it would not have ben possible to inject CST steam from the
new condensing turbine into the existing condenser via a new opening in
condenser neck.
19.
Thus the integration options could not be considered and it was decided to
install a stand alone solar power plant of 15 MW capacity.
****
January-2010
Page 5 of 5
Appendix-III
Salient features of 140 MW Integrated Solar Combined

Cycle Power Plant
1.
A 140 MW Integrated Solar Combined Cycle Power Plant was proposed at

Mathania Rajasthan. Salient details are given below:
Plant capacity
Configuration
Solar Plant Capacity
Annual solar share
Solar field area

Solar technology
DNI (25 yr average) at site
Solar heat input
Feed water inlet temperature
Live steam pressure/ temperature
Live steam flow
Solar heat interconnection with
CCGT cycle
January-2010
140 MW with solar component of 35

MW and non-solar component of 105
MW
Solar + 2 nos. GTGs + 2 nos. HRSG
+1 No. STG
35 MW
9% (operation without auxiliary firing
at night)
6% (operation with auxilisry firing at
night)
600,000 m2
Parabolic trough
2177 kWh/m2
94.5 MW
245 deg C
105 kg /cm2, 370 deg C
50 kg/S
The heat transfer fluid (HTF) is
circulated through the solar field
where it is heated. The solar heated
HTF generates superheated steam in
heat exchangers. The superheated
steam is then fed to the high pressure
(HP) casing of steam turbine. The
spent steam is condensed in
conventional steam condenser and
returned to heat exchangers via
condensate and feed water pumps.
Provision also made for auxiliary
firing in HRSG in the evening and
night to make up for low or no
insolation.
Page 1 of 1
Appendix-IV
Assumptions for generic levelised tariff for solar power plants

as per CERC
January-2010
Page 1 of 2
January-2010
Page 2 of 2

CEA Task Force Report On Grid Interactive Solar PV - Jan'10

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CEA Task Force Report On Grid Interactive Solar PV - Jan'10

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REPORT OF TASK FORCE

CENTRAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Central Electricity Authority

To examine feasibility of integrating solar based plants with

In regard to solar roof top systems

As a part of efforts to rapidly add solar generation capacity under the

Central Electricity Authority.

Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems

Sub-Group-I: Grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems

This Sub-group was assigned the task of bringing out guidelines on

Sh. S.M. Dhiman, Member (GO&D), CEA - Chairman

Sh Puneet Goel, Director, Ministry of Power

Sh. M.K. Raina, ED(T&RE), NHPC

Shri Jitender Sood, BEE

Shri CVSN Murthy, AGM BHEL , Bangalore

Sh. S.K. Sangal, ED, CEL

Sh. S. Ramesh, Chief Engineer, KPCL

Sh. Vivek Singla, GM NDPL

Sh. Alok Gupta, Chief Engineer (DPD), CEA Member-Secretary

Sub-Group-II: Integration of solar plants with existing thermal plants

Central Electricity Authority.

stations including issues of space availability, type of solar system,

Shri S. Seshadri, Member (Thermal), CEA - Chairman

Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE

Shri Lalit Kapur, Director, MOEF

Shri A.K Gupta,. G.M, NTPC

Shri R.K. Sikri, GM, NTPC

Shri Vishnu Gupta, G.M(I/C), BHEL

Shri M. M Vijayvergia Executive Director RRECL

Shri N.M. Mathur, Chief Engineer, RRVUNL

Sh. Sanjay Sharma, Director, CEA Member-Secretary

Sub-Group-III: Integration of solar plants with existing hydro plants

Shri Suresh Chander, Chief Engineer (TE&TD), CEA - Chairman

Dr. Ashvini Kumar, Director, MNRE.

Dr. S. Bhowmik Addl. Director, MOE&F

Shri Vishnu Gupta, G.M (I/C), BHEL

Sh. M.K. Raina, ED(T&RE), NHPC

Shri Ashok Thapar Director BBMB

Shri Moti Lal Director , Hydro, CEA Member-Secretary

Deliberations of the Task Force

Central Electricity Authority.

Sub-group I Grid Interactive roof top systems

Various technologies for Solar PV systems, their relative costs and

The report also indicates a sample calculation to arrive at the capacity of

Central Electricity Authority.

Sub-group II & II Integration of solar systems with

Central Electricity Authority.

thermal is to be considered. When land is available in several scattered

Providing thermal storage systems involves additional solar field for

Open land areas not intended for any future expansion

Integration of solar plants on the steam side to the existing station is

Typical station facilities required to be shared in case of solar thermal

Central Electricity Authority.

Various options available for integration of solar thermal power with

Central Electricity Authority.

Grid-connected PV systems are connected to utility grid. Energy generated by

Central Electricity Authority

LIST OF ANNEXURES AND EXHIBITS TO REPORT OF SUBGROUP-I

Minutes of 1st Meeting of Sub-Group - I held on 15.7.09.

Calculation for PV solar system capacity for individual

A Task force was constituted by MNRE under the chairmanship of

Shri SM Dhiman, Member(GO&D), CEA -Chairman

The following type of modules of grid interactive roof top Solar PV