PV Inverter (INV)
The PV Inverter is a core asset type in the Bazefield platform representing a single inverter in a power plant. It serves as the foundational asset for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and visualizing operational and performance data. Each inverter asset is uniquely identified and associated with a parent site (e.g a “solar farm”), optional inverter station, optional substation, forming part of the broader asset hierarchy of a solar farm.
Functional Description
A PV Inverter converts DC current generated by the solar panels, into AC current required by the electrical grid. The inverter is the primary AC Power Conversion asset in a solar power plant (see Domain Categories for a broader description of other AC Power Conversion assets across different power plants).
Core Data Model
While the data model of individual inverters vary by vendor, Bazefield offers a pre-installed CORE data model to account for the most common points, events, and attributes relevant to all makes and models of solar inverters. Model by model variations are then handled typically through smart Model Inheritance. All vendor specific points, calculation, and events are packaged in separate asset model templates, and are not described here.
Example of a common Modelling Strategy to encompass variations of data between inverter manufacturers and site specific SCADA configurations.
Core Attributes
Attributes are fixed key, value pairs used to represent non-time series data associated with each asset (read more about Attributes). While attribute values can differ from asset to asset, critical shared (e.g. CORE) attributes defining a wind turbine asset type, pre-installed in Bazefield are described below. These are often pre-requisite data required for the Bazefield applications to function fully.
Required for basic Bazefield Core functionality
Optional attributes for common additional modelling (some required for the solar AI product)
Depending on your version of Bazefield, there may be additional advanced attributes not listed here to support data integrations or migrations with other systems.
Name | Key | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
Latitude | latitude | GPS coordinates for the Turbine using WGS 84 system in decimals | |
Longitude | longitude | GPS coordinates for the Turbine using WGS 84 system in decimals | |
Time Zone | timeZone | Select this Inverter local time zone. | |
Rated Power (kW) | ratedPower | Maximum power (kW) produced by the inverter as specified in the power curve. | |
Low Irradiance Threshold (W/m2) | irradianceThreshold | Threshold for low irradiance readings (W/m2). | |
Temp Coeff of Pmax for PV Module (Units/C) | temp_coeff_for_pv_module | Refer to the technical manuals of the module for the coefficient that represents the correlation between module power and temperature. You must convert percentages to decimal numbers, for example -0.0039. | |
I16 - Installed Capacity (kW DC) | capacity | The capacity (kWp) of the modules for DC inputs of the inverter. | |
Operative Date | operativeDate | Date of commissioning of the inverter. | |
Serial Number | serialNumber | Inverter serial number/reference. | |
Control Enabled | turbineControlEnabled | Enable the control feature for this Inverter. | |
Reference Inverters | referenceInverters | Reference/neighbor inverter used for data redundancy, like in theoretical production calculations. | |
System Efficiency | systemEfficiency | ||
Owners | owners | Group asset by Owners. Used in Filter function | |
Inverter Type | invType | Inverter type: Central or String | |
Model ID | enOSModelId | The master data ID for the inverter model. You must use the model code from the inverterType field of the dimension table. Go to the following link to obtain the model code: https://[APP portal domain name]/apollonfe/solareeop.html You can use the ticket system to request to add inverter models that are not in the table. | |
Max Apparent Power (kVA AC) | biggest_capacity | Maximum apparent power value in kVA. Typically considered as the maximum active power (kW) that the inverter can reach. | |
Altitude [m] | altitude | The vertical elevation of this site above sea level in meters. | |
Module ID | module_id | The master data ID for the PV module. You must use the model code from the dimModule field of the dimension table. Go to the following link to obtain the model code: https://[APP portal domain name]/apollonfe/solareeop.html You can use the ticket system to request to add PV modules not in the table. | |
Bifaciality | bifaciality | The value should be between 0 and 1. The ratio of the rear side efficiency to the front side efficiency, measured under standard test conditions. | |
Module Type | module_type | module composition between "glass/cell/polymer" or "glass/cell/glass". For glass-glass or glass-polymer. | |
Racking Group | group2 | Select existing and related Racking group object | |
Soiling Group | group3 | Select existing and related Soiling group object | |
Temperature Derating Curve | kVA_fT | kVA derating curve with ambient temperature, as factor of size_ac. Enter the necessary [temp; derating factor] points to define the curve. Example: “25,110|50,110|60,0” | |
EU Efficiency (Per Unit) | eu_Efficiency | Stated efficiency per EU guidelines, found on inverter datasheets. Example: 98.2 %. May not be available for US models. Enter value in decimals 0.982 | |
Inverter Efficiency Curve | mfg | Read from the curve displayed in PVSyst or SAM for this inverter model (preferred) or inverter datasheet. | |
Nominal DC Voltage | Nominal_dc_voltage | Nominal MPP Voltage of the Main inverter parameter view of PVSyst. It may also be on the inverter datasheet. The nominal DC voltage value needs to be within the MPPT range. If not available, use the middle of the MPPT range. | |
MPPT and String Info | ensight_branches | Configure the mapping of DC inputs with MPPT. Only string inverters need to be filled in. The data format is JSON. The uniqueness of mppt_id and dc_input_id under the same inverter must be guaranteed. mppt_id is the number of mppt, and currently supports up to 6; dc_input_id is the number of branches; dc_input_size is The total capacity (kW) of the modules connected to the branch. | |
DC Input Count | dc_input_count | Enter the number of installed DC inputs per inverter at the level they are monitored (DC re-combiner input or DC string input if string-level monitoring). Different for each inverter on site.- String combiner level monitoring: enter # of strings/inverter- String inverter: enter # of strings/inverter- DC feeder monitoring at inverter or re-combiner: # of populated DC input/inverter | |
Reference Weather Station | refWeatherStation | Plane-of-Array (POA) sensor of sufficient quality (secondary standard if several qualities are available) located within the shortest distance to this inverter. Use the site layout to determine the distance between the inverter and weather stations. | |
Max Ramp Threshold | slope | To filter the meter readings increase. Automatically set, no need to fill in. | |
CEC Efficiency (Per Unit) | CEC_efficiency | Stated efficiency per CEC database, found on inverter datasheets. Example: 98.0 %. It may not be available for non-US models. Enter value in decimals 0.98 | |
Data Quality | dataQuality | Data quality, the format is JSON. There are 6 data for verifying quality in the inverter, which is "pwr_acx_tot", "pwr_acx_rtv", "cosp", "pwr_dcx_tot", "vol_dcx", "pwr_acx_app", and their meanings are: Active power, Reactive power, Power factor, DC Input Power, DC voltage and Apparent power. Example: {"Inverter": {"sensor_type_list": ["pwr_acx_tot", "vol_dcx", "pwr_acx_rtv", "pwr_acx_app"]}} | |
Scale | enOSScale | The factor for converting meter readings to total production. Default is 1 if not specified. | |
Soiling Station ID | soilingStationID | Model ID for the Soiling station | |
GADS Inverter Group Id | GADSInverterGroupId | ||
Related Weather Stations | relatedWeatherStations | Non primary weather stations related to inverter for backup irradiance/temperature values | |
PV Syst Losses Combined | pvSystLoss | Sum of DC Ohmic, Module Mismatch, LID, IAM, Shading, Module Quality, and Soiling losses on Inverter | |
Average Related Weather Stations | avgRelatedWeatherStations | Determines if the values from related weather stations should be averaged, or if the first good value should be used (Checked = Averaged) |
Certified Product Templates
This section lists the common, shared point, event, and other data templates applicable to an inverter asset type pre-installed by the Bazefield product team. For Bazefield customers, more details for each template are available per object type in the Certified Product Templates section.
Contains points/events required for Bazefield Core Dashboard functionality
Optional templates for common additional data streams/sources
Template Type | Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
Point Template | Common raw (or transformed) real time SCADA data model for all inverters. Raw data with minor scale equations for validation or transformation | ||
Point Template | Common raw (or transformed) real time DC SCADA data model for all inverters. Raw data with minor scale equations for validation or transformation | ||
Point Template | Real-Time calculations for inverter state and environment conditions. | ||
Point Template | Analytics to monitor inverter production and performance | ||
Event Template | Standard calculated alarms for irradiance and inverter states. Can be used to drive allocations to determine Inverter Hours in different categories to report for NERC GADS. | ||
Event Template | Inverter Events that are manually implemented including unplanned maintenance events and feeder/breaker trips | ||
Event Template | Inverter Events that such as planned maintenance and testing |