PROJECT DETAILS

  • The 50 MW solar photovoltaic plant (Risha PV IPP project) is located within the Risha area, 300 km east of Amman in Jordan.
  • This Project supports the country in increasing its renewable energy capacity and reducing its reliance on costly hydrocarbon imports.
  • The IPP supports Jordan’s Vision 2025 to boost economic growth and the National Energy Strategy, which aims to boost power generation capacity by 40% by 2020.
  • This 50 MW plant increases its total power generation capacity in Jordan to more than 1.6 GW.
  • The power generated from the project is sold to National Electric Power under a power purchase agreement. The power is sold at the rate of $0.059kWh for a period of 20 years. The contracted capacity is 50MW.
  • Client has entrusted to perform The Power System Studies for their entire plant for electrical power distribution network.

Plant Electrical System Description

50MWac Risha Solar Plant

50MWac Risha Solar Plant In this plant, the Power from the solar plant is planned to be evacuated at 132kV level using two numbers of 132/33kV 45MVA power transformer and connect toexisting NEPCO substation.

The plant consists of Nine inverter stations connected at 33kV Main MV switchgear, each inverter station has connected two numbers of Inverter Duty transformers rated 3.6/1.8/1.8 MVA, with voltage level of 33/0.63/0.63kV and each of it is connected to two central inverters of 1637kVA.

SCOPE

The scope covers the Power system studies for 50MWac Risha Solar Plant

  • Load flow study
  • Short circuit study
  • Arc Flash study

SIMULATION SOFTWARE

The Analysis for the Power system studies for 50MWac Risha Solar Plant is performed using ETAP Version 22.

ETAP – Electrical Transient Analyzer Program developed by ETAP Automation USA. ETAP is so popular for its capability for modelling of power system networks and analysing various studies and Real Time simulations.

STANDARDS FOLLOWED

  • Load Flow – IEEE 3002.2 (2018)
  • Short Circuit – IEC 60909-0 (2016)
  • Arc Flash – IEEE 1584 (2018), NFPA 70E (2021)

CHALLENGES FACED

The unavailability of Electrode configuration data for the AC Inverter side Panels and Inverter Auxiliary transformer Panels

STUDY OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Voltage profile at all buses are within limits i.e., ±5 % change in voltage as per the standard IEEE 3002.2-2018
  • The real power exported at PCC is 58.3 MW at 0.996 leading power factor
  • The loading of all the elements i.e., cable, transformer is found to be within their capability
  • It is observed that the short time rating for all the switchgears are within the limits
  • As observed for 33 kV switchgears, incident energy exceeds above 40 cal/cm2, hence we suggested not to do live maintenance as it is not envisaged
  • Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Level suit is recommended based on the arc flash study results

STUDY OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

  • We had advised to mark arc flash boundary, limited approach boundary and restricted approach boundary lines in front of the panels as per the given results
  • We have provided Arc flash danger labels for AC and DC system as deliverable and advised them to place the danger labels on respective switchgears