Field Installation

Advantages of Siemens Energy

Siemens Energy is the world-leading provider of a wide spectrum of products, solutions and services for energy production, transfer and distribution, as well as for the exploitation, conversion and transport of the primary fuels oil and gas. As the worlds sole energy infrastructure manufacturer, the Siemens sector has acquired exhaustive expertise in all areas of the energy conversion chain.

Eco Delta, France

New horizons
With a total size of 31 MWp, the solar park in Les Mes was a very exciting PV contract and one that allowed Siemens Energy to once again prove its expertise as an EPC contractor working hand in hand with colleagues from Siemens Industry and its customer Eco Delta.

hen Frances largest solar park in Les Mes was connected to the grid in August 2011, representatives from Siemens were able to look back on three years of intensive work their commitment had clearly paid off. Jean-Charles Brun, Business Development Manager at Siemens Energy, recalls: We held the first talks with Eco Delta three years ago, and then in July 2009 the first contract was signed. The contract was of considerable scope, with Siemens Energy acted as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, and providing even maintenance, operative and guarantee services.

Everything from a single source

In an installation period of just ten months, six individual PV plants were developed over a total area of 66 hectares. These will now provide electricity for more than 12,000 households in the Alpesde-Haute-Provence region in the south of France. Yet the tight schedule was just one of many challenges that the Eco Delta contract presented. The topography at Les Mes is very complex and hilly, says Jean-Charles Brun. So we had to come up with a perfect plant design that took into account both the terrain as well as the demands for extremely high levels of efficiency and capacity.

ence. With a market share of 40 percent, Siemens Industry is the market leader in France in the segment for central inverters. Since 2008, as much as 250 MW have been installed in France, and in 2010 alone 150 MW were supplied. The scale of the plant in Les Mes presented us with a considerable challenge, explains Daniel Lazzaroni, Head of Energy Sector at Siemens Industry. Finally, we settled on the Sinvert PVS500 model series in a master/slave combination. Sinvert PVS is a product series that is specially designed for the power plant segment and for capacities of between 500 kW and 3,200 kW. With a peak efficiency of up to 98.7 percent, the modules have excellent performance ratings. The master/slave method, where up to four devices can be connected to one unit, allows a uniform usage of all components and therefore a long life expectancy. It was also possible to optimize efficiency levels thanks to improved calibration of the nominal capacity of the inverters, in line with the output from the connected fields. A further advantage was that we were also able to offer plant monitoring with WinCC software and Sinvert Select software for configuring the plant, all developed by us, explains Daniel Lazzaroni.

Dotting the is
The joining of forces under Siemens leadership meant it was even possible to achieve a size of 31 MWp instead of the originally planned 30 MWp which was a positive aspect for Eco Delta.

A strong partner
Eco Deltas mission
Eco Delta is an independent developer and operator of solar and wind parks. The French company, based in La Ciotat in the south of France, was founded in 2002. The team under the leadership of CEO Ronald Knoche has made it their mission to adhere to a sustainable installation practice for plants in regard to people, nature and agriculture. The project in Les Mes is Eco Deltas largest to date, with an investment volume of over 100 million. The company has a total capacity of 220 MW in construction or installed in the south and the center of France. Siemens worked in close partnership with its customer Eco Delta for this huge project and offered an overall concept. We had never before undertaken a photovoltaic solar plant project of this scale and this 31MWp project has been one of the most exciting and challenging projects I ever handeled, says JeanPierre Frantin, Project Director. Indeed we managed to install during such a short period of only 5 months 112.400 solar panels covering a surface of 66 hectares, the equivalent of 92 football fields. We installed altogether 4.000 tons of equipment, just imagine that this is half the weight of the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the equivalent to 18 airbus planes A380, continues Jean-Pierre Frantin. The Siemens in-house EPC expertise and state-of-the-art technology for inverters, transformers, medium voltage switchgears and digital control system was one of the major assets to make this project a success.

i nfo c o nt a c t

www.siemens.com/solar-industry solar.industry.automation@siemens.com

Overview of Siemens services for Les Mes

f f f f f f f f Professional project management Engineering with balance-of-plant optimizing Inverters Distribution boxes Plant monitoring with WinCC software MV and LV switchgears Transformers Maintenance, operating and guarantee services

Inverters par excellence

By using Siemens inverter modules, customers benefit from over 20 years of international experi-

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Focus on SolarIndustry 2011

Focus on SolarIndustry 2011

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Photos: Siemens AG

Working together toward a shared goal: Jean-Charles Brun (left) and Daniel Lazzaroni representing the Siemens Energy and Industry sectors

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