Solar Plus Energy Storage - A guide to maximizing production and profit with a DC converter

Traditional storage plus solar (PV) applications have involved the coupling of independent storage and PV inverters at an AC bus, or alternatively the use of multi-input hybrid inverters. Here we will examine how a new cost-effective approach of coupling energy storage to existing PV arrays with a DC-to-DC converter can help maximize production and profi ts for existing and new utility-scale installations. This new approach leads to higher round trip effi ciencies and lower cost of integration with exiting PV arrays, and at the same time opens up new use cases not possible with traditional AC-coupled storage

DC-coupled Solar Plus Storage

Revenue Streams

The addition of energy storage to an existing or new utility-scale PV installation allows system owners and operators the opportunity to capture additional revenues. Six distinct solar plus storage use cases are discussed below. DC-coupled storage allows project owners to access all six of these use cases, and, as compared with AC-coupling, three use cases are only available with the DC-coupled approach — clipping recapture, curtailment recapture and low voltage harvest.