Five leading organizations, six countries, smart matching tool upgraded to V3.0
PVTIME – Trina Solar released its CAPEX and LCOE assessment White Paper, including Fraunhofer ISE, DNV, Black&Veatch, Enertis Applus+, UL, five global authoritative organizations for the Vertex series modules. The calculation research covers 6 countries and forms 84 sets of comparative data, which intuitively and comprehensively shows the system value advantages of the Vertex series modules.
（click to download the Whitepaper）
Accelerate the dual carbon goals attainment
At present, the world is committed to carbon neutrality, and building a new power system with new energy as the main body is also the direction of our country’s energy transformation. As far as the PV field is concerned, only a lower LCOE can accelerate the replacement of fossil energy such as coal and crude oil, and promote the realization of the “dual carbon” goals.
The latest White Paper starts by explaining the system value principle and various ways of reducing levelized cost of energy (LCOE). It lists the calculations and studies by Fraunhofer ISE, DNV, BLACK&VEATCH, Enertis Applus+ and UL performed in Germany, Spain, Brazil, the United States, Australia and the UAE, covering PV modules of four different sizes: 210mm, 182mm, 166mm and 158mm. The study shows that the impact of using different modules on the value of the whole system based mainly on the difference in two indicators, balance of system (BOS) cost and LCOE.
Cutting-edge Vertex 210mm Module’s LCOE reduced by up to 4.1%
The “White Paper” points out that from the calculation formula of LCOE, its value is proportional to all costs in the entire life cycle, such as CAPEX, OPEX, etc., and is inversely proportional to the power generation in the entire life cycle. Comparing the research results of various measurement agencies, it can be seen that under the same conditions, the power generation of the entire project life cycle will be different for different component (P-type) solutions, but the difference is limited, and the impact of the project’s CAPEX on LCOE is more significant. That is, when the difference in power generation is limited, lower CAPEX means lower LCOE.
The comparison results of the above-mentioned measurement agencies in different regions and different types of projects show that the 210 Vertex modules represented by Trina Solar have significant advantages in terms of electrical system cost, transportation cost and tracker installation cost compared with 182mm and 166mm modules. Compared with the 182-540W reference module, the Trina Solar Vertex 670W series module can reduce the corresponding LCOE by 4.1%.
Trina Solar’s 210 Vertex series modules have taken the impact of system cost into account from the beginning of design, and innovated the design concept of low voltage and high power, which can increase the string power by up to 41%, bringing higher system value and lower power consumption. The cost of electricity has become the best choice for the large-scale PV plants, and it also brings higher value to customers.
Smart matching tool 3.0 goes live
In order to provide customers with better services, Trina Solar has previously launched the intelligent matching databases for PV project design version 2.0, which includes 22 string inverters of 238 products, 14 mainstream tracker manufacturers, over 30 tracker products. With the update of the data in the “White Paper”, the tool has been upgraded to version 3.0. (website: pvd.trinasolar.com)
The website offers six options: tracker type, country, region, calculation organization, comparison module type and reference module type, allowing customers to identify BOS and LCOE data and the difference of various modules under a concrete project condition through an intelligent search. In the future, the “White Paper” and design tools will include more calculation reports and results from third-party organizations from time to time.
Affordable solar panels and low LCOE have become an inevitable trend in the market. The Vertex 600W+ modules with higher power, higher system value and lower LCOE have become the preferred choice for customers, providing a new path to achieve higher returns.
