ARCHITECTURE FOR POWER PLANT COMPRISING CLUSTERS OF POWER-GENERATION DEVICES

摘要

Various techniques are employed alone or in combination, to reduce the levelized cost of energy imposed by a power plant system. Solar energy concentrators in the form of inflated reflectors, focus light onto photovoltaic receivers. Multiple concentrators are grouped into a series-connected cluster that shares control circuitry and support structure. Individual concentrators are maintained at their maximum power point via balance controllers that control the flow of current that shunts this series connection. DC current from clusters is transmitted moderate distances to a centralized inverter. The inductance of transmission lines is maximized using an air-spaced twisted pair, enhancing the performance of boost-type three phase inverters. Cluster outputs are separate from individual inverters in massively interleaved arrays co-located at a central location. Step-up transformers convert inverter voltages to grid voltages, and small transformers provide isolation and voltage step-up only on receiver-to-receiver imbalance currents, typically <20% of the total current.

主权项

1. A method for balancing circuit voltage comprising:
receiving, at a circuit, power from a plurality of power-generating elements, the circuit being coupled to first and second devices, the first device being communicatively coupled to the second device; and increasing, using a switch of the second device, a load on at least one of the plurality of power-generating elements such that the voltage of the circuit does not exceed an upper threshold voltage.