The AES advanced 60 kW PV-diesel hybrid inverter

This paper presents the advances made in hybrid PV-diesel power conversion under AES´s PVMaT 4A research contract. Assembly and servicing were simplified by combining advances in power electronics (higher power IGBTs, bonded fin heat sinks and a new proprietary IGBT driver board) into a single “power block”. The newly US manufactured inverter features locally designed magnetics, a 70% smaller floor space requirement and a flexible, expandable software control scheme based on a Visual Basic-based Windows interface and industry standard MODBUS SCADA communications. The prototype unit has been tested at Sandia National Labs and is about to be tested at NREL´s Rocky Flats Wind Test Site. Operating results for an AES hybrid inverter site in Belize are also presented