Storage and PV power plants are system-relevant. The energy transition cannot succeed without them. If a power plant fails, the costs mount up very quickly. Michael Ploechl is the head of the SMA monitoring location in Germany and he and his team ensure that it doesn’t come to that. Despite this responsibility, Ploechl generally remains relaxed. He can afford to. Because at two locations in the U.S. and Germany, expert teams analyze the system performance of power plants worldwide 24/7 in real time. The professionals in Rocklin and Ulm ensure that everything runs smoothly. In our interview, he explains why operating expenditure is more important than capital expenditure and how rabbits occasionally cause him some trouble.

The design stage of a PV system is crucial to ensure optimal production from the installation and to secure the investment objective. There are several software tools that perform simulations according to the configuration of the installation, its location, orientation and energy requirements, including PVsyst. In this article, Julien Le Bars, Applications and Project Engineer at SMA France, shares his three points for optimal use of the tool (version 7.2.1).

The Sunny Design planning software has been used to plan millions of PV systems worldwide since 2007. The new release coming out in late April lets you precisely model where shading might be on the modules and shows you where direct irradiation is lost.