Schneider Electric and its renewable energy projects in Argentina
Alejandro IZA, director of the solar area of Schneider Electric for LATAM, tells in an interview for energiaestratégica.com the plans of the company in our country.
What perspectives open up for the company from the tenders announced by the Government?
The Argentine market is evolving very quickly. The energy matrix will incorporate alternative energies to balance generation and be able to guarantee supply. In the case of solar photovoltaics, Argentina is a privileged country, since it has excellent radiation in northern areas, the land is flat, the networks are good and there is good evacuation. And if we add to all this the intentions of the government and the new regulations, we will obtain a market niche rarely seen worldwide.
And how do you plan to take advantage of this potential?
The Argentine market has unique conditions to offer one of the greatest developments worldwide. Although Schneider Electric does not carry out installations, we are supporting all developers, engineering firms and the general public so that they take advantage of the learning curve and benefit from this sector, carrying out quality installations that allow each one to meet their expectations and the expected ROI. of its facilities.
What projects are you working on in the country?
We are currently collaborating with many developers and engineering companies, providing all the necessary information about our equipment to obtain projects in accordance with national and international regulations, of great quality and production. Through our distributors for the solar area, Intermepro-Probattery, we serve the Residential, Commercial and Off grid sectors, offering solutions and local stock of products.
And in this context… are you working on new technological developments?
Yes, two weeks ago we presented two new products at Intersolar Germany, the first aimed at the Commercial-Utility Scale sector. It is a 60kW string inverter which allows us to offer new alternatives to the commercial sector and expand the range of action in large plants with string inverters.
The second model that we present is the SmartGen, it is a 1500V central unit, based on 2MW blocks that make up a 4MW skid (inverters, cells and transformers). This kit will make a difference in the Utility Scale industry, and while other manufacturers have tried to follow suit, this model is different. It presents several advantages, both constructive and control, ventilation and generation, it also offers great savings in turnkey solutions. It is a team that we developed for three years, in which we have included several patents that have allowed us to adapt it to different world conditions such as weather, generation means and altitude (we can reach 4000mts)
As a result of the expectation presented by the market… what technologies are being demanded?
Currently the technologies in demand correspond to three lines of business: Off Grid, where we offer hybrid equipment, capable of interacting with the grid, batteries and generators. Although its main base is batteries, this state-of-the-art equipment allows us to interact with the distribution system as generators, also offering us the possibility of being electrically self-sufficient.
Residential and Commercial, this is a very important segment since in both cases the production and consumption curves can be superimposed, that is, everything we produce with our photovoltaic equipment can be consumed instantly, reducing our bill. This sector has become very important in Argentina due to the new regulation of 8 percent that requires consumers of more than 300 kW to justify 8 percent of their consumption in a renewable way. For this sector we have a very wide range of equipment, both single-phase for residential and three-phase for commercial.
Utility Scale is a business segment that refers to large plants. It is the sector that has grown the most worldwide due to its contribution to the different networks and the cost of its generation, today we have several countries where grid parity has already been achieved and this makes this type of installation very profitable . It should be remembered that the lack of energy directly affects the GDP of each country, preventing it from developing its full growth potential. Photovoltaics is the correct solution to this problem due to large production during daylight hours, where the greatest energy imbalance occurs. For this segment we have two types of products, one based on 1000V in skid or container mode and the second based on 1500V in skid mode.
It is important to point out that our equipment is installed in all networks in the world, from China and India with a lot of pollution, through the Philippines and Thailand with 100% humidity, in southern Europe, in Kazakhstan at -35°C, in Africa, at +50°C and in the Atacama desert to mention a few places; this demonstrates the great resistance and reliability of our equipment as well as the power of adaptation to each of the networks worldwide.
Source (Spanish): www.energiaestrategica.com