ABB Introduces New PVS 175 String Inverter

Eduardo Casilda, General Manager of ABB’s US Solar Division introduces the latest solar-powered system. The PVS-175-TL is the biggest string, solar power inverter on the market, and has very unique features. This product is a 175-kilowatt string solar power inverter. In the video, you can see the combiner box right below the power unit. The reason that the are together is so when you’re doing a solar panel installation in a field you can install them as an AC/DC combiner box.

On the DC side, there is AFCI (which is a very unique feature). The power conversion unit is complete removable just in case there are service issues. If there is a problem you just take the box off of the conversion unit, once fixed you just put it back on. You don’t need to take all of the cables away to change the unit if there does happen to be an issue. This is a very unique feature on the market, that only ABB has. The power range is also very unique.

On the side of the combiner box, you have the entries for the DC side. This is where you have 12 MPPT available for very difficult fields where your MPPT ranges can vary, depending on if the field is shaded or not.

The AC side (located on the opposite side of the DC), this way you will have separate entries from the AC and DC side.

In the middle of the combiner box, you will have the AC and DC disconnect. This way you can disconnect the unit from the grid to maintain the unit if necessary.

This unit, in particular, can be hung in the field with two different methods. The unit itself is 310 LBS (160 KG).

Another unique feature is the design that was done specifically for the US solar energy market. There’s a mini-scale that that shows how you can combine the AC box and medium voltage transformer on the field for utility-scale projects. The unit that is coming from the field connected to the AC box with ABB breakers, go into the transformer and from there it is going to the grid. This is specialized for customers, ABB can customize it for every customer depending on their needs.

Since the combiner box and power unit is combined on the field, the have the unique feature where you can save on the BOS cost, and the solar panel installation cost on the field, since the combiner box comes included with a power unit. With this comes the advantage, where you can save and put it on the field completely, this way it’s not centralized. When the unit is centralized you will have a lot of DC cable coming to the centralized solution. With this ABB has the DC cable coming from the array or the tracking system into the combiner box. There ABB goes with AC to the basic combiner that makes it unique and can save you a lot of money on the cost of the field. It is very unique and new to the market and ABB has already deployed it in the United States with very successful solar energy projects.

Customize your home and create your solar array using the HahaSmart design DIY tool and then check the cost using the price checker tool.