Military
Helping the U.S. military achieve energy security, independence, reliability and sustainability with distributed solar generation and smart micro-grids
Petra Solar is uniquely qualified to partner with the U.S. Military to help move America toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, and to help meet Department of Defense renewable energy mandates.
Enhance energy independence and security
Petra Solar’s smart solar micro-grid system enables independence from the utility grid, particularly in critical situations. In addition, a micro-grid system reduces expensive peak electricity charges. In order to further promote energy independence and security, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 mandates that by 2025, 25% of total energy must be produced or procured from renewable energy sources.
Leverage assets and lower startup costs
One of the key advantages of the Petra Solar solution is its flexible grid integration architecture and modularity. Petra Solar is the only cleantech company that provides utility-grade, grid-tied, distributed smart solar systems that can be installed on utility and streetlight poles, rooftops and other existing assets. This noninvasive approach greatly reduces environmental impacts, land use, infrastructure development costs, siting and permitting. With this distributed smart solar solution, no upgrades are required to current transmission or distribution infrastructure – eliminating grid interconnection issues and costs faced by traditional solar systems.
Reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) line losses
Petra Solar’s highly distributed SunWave PV system evenly distributes generated power throughout the electric distribution network. The system is installed throughout the secondary distribution system of a utility grid, yielding a reduction in T&D losses as well as a reduction in remote generation levels since power is generated very close to the load.
Lower operation and maintenance (O&M) costs
The distributed, standalone nature of the Petra Solar design reduces operational and maintenance expenditures. There is no single point of failure. Unlike traditional string inverter installations where a single inverter failure can take an entire solar array out of service, failure of a single SunWave unit will not impact the rest of the system.
Rapidly deploy and re-deploy
The modularity of the SunWave systems enables rapid deployment as well as tear-down and reuse of the solar units on alternative sites and structures without an expensive system architecture redesign. This enables the repurpose of a site or structure for an alternative use in the future without scrapping the solar investment.
Increase energy efficiency and harvesting
The one-to-one relationship between the Smart Energy Module (SEMTM) and the solar panel provides several benefits, including increased system efficiency and energy harvesting. SunWave systems provide a 15-20% increase in energy harvesting capability compared to traditional string type systems because the power output is optimized on a per panel basis, maximizing overall system power generation. And with string inverters, partial shading of some panels will result in reduced power generation of the entire system and maximum power point tracking is less effective.
Build a smart grid infrastructure and increase reliability
Deploying smart solar systems on existing assets in a distributed manner improves reliability and efficiency of the grid. Collectively delivering solar power plus a smart grid infrastructure provides the additional benefit of deployment of a tightly integrated, secure wireless two-way communications platform. This enables monitoring of the operation and health of the smart solar units as well as the electric grid itself. The communications system also provides the foundation for smart grid applications.
Energy Storage
Energy storage systems will increase the value of solar electric systems and other variable energy sources by providing variability mitigation support and by bringing unprecedented predictability to the operation of renewable energy systems. Petra Solar’s SunWave systems can function in coordination with energy storage elements to regulate the voltage and frequency in a micro-grid, enabling independence from the utility grid in critical situations.
