2014-11-03 - ABB is tightening its grip on the solar market in Central America by delivering electric balance of plant for a 146.4 megawatt peak (MWp) project in Honduras. This packaged inverter solution comprises inverter stations, medium voltage (MV) stations, a SCADA system and string monitoring junction boxes.

ABB has signed a contract to deliver fifty-two 2 MW PVS800-IS inverter stations, each containing two PVS800 central inverters, and respective MV stations with MV transformers and ring main units (RMU). ABB is also delivering a SCADA system for controlling and monitoring the solar plant and string monitoring junction boxes. The hardware delivery is supplemented by a service offering that includes training and commissioning and local support for the years to come.

The project has been developed by Larach family and it is located close to the Pacific Ocean near the city of Nacaome in Honduras. This is the biggest photovoltaic (PV) project in Latin America, and it consists of two neighboring sites (Valle and Nacaome) that feed power to the grid through the same high voltage station. The grid connection for each site is rated at 50 megawatts alternating current. The deliveries start already in November supporting the rapid connection target to the distribution network in March 2015.

"The high efficiency, reliability and easy-to-maintain industrial design of our inverters, as well as the wide offering of other products for the solar industry, are the key success factors for ABB PVS800 central inverters. All these together offer customers a real, bankable solution that we are able to support for years to come," says Blas Gonzalez, ABB's Country and Discrete Automation and Motion division manager for Central America and the Caribbean. "We are developing further our service organization in the region to meet the increasing needs for solar business as I expect more projects to come."

According to Gonzalez, "Based on the latest estimates, just in Central America, an impressive 1.5 gigawatts of PV capacity is expected to be installed within a six-year period through 2020, while there is a strong and increasing tendency towards renewables in the Caribbean. This means great opportunities for using solar energy in large-scale power plants as well as in smaller systems on commercial and industrial buildings in our countries. ABB's wide portfolio of different sizes of inverters, together with its other products for the solar industry, give customers an attractive one-stop shopping opportunity for packaged solutions for different sizes and types of plants."

The ABB PVS800-IS inverter station, rated from 1.75 to 2 MW, is designed for multi-megawatt PV power plants. The inverter station uses two 875 kW or 1,000 kW PVS800 central inverters. Depending on the size of the PV power plant, several ABB inverter stations can be combined to meet the needed capacity. With a wide list of approvals and with advanced and flexible grid support functions, the inverter station meets all the applicable network connection requirements, regardless of where the project is located. To help meet bankability requirements and secure the highest return on investment, ABB supports its customers with a dedicated global service network providing a complete range of life cycle services in more than 60 countries.

ABB established its operations in Central America and the Caribbean in 1996 by opening an office in Panama to provide sales, technical expertise and service to ABB customers in the area. The Honduras office was opened in 2008. Currently, ABB is present with local operations in Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, and soon ABB will open an office in Trinidad and Tobago to cover the West Indies.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 150,000 people.

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