However, along with the opportunities during the process, there are challenges that

must be addressed by the industry.

Grid Connection Challenges

PV systems, from utility-scale to commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential
scenarios, are growing fast. However, stable grid connection and longer-term
reliability require hardware and software capabilities of power electronics.

Operation Challenges
As the scale of power plants increases, the requirements for lifecycle operation
and management are also getting higher. The connection of a massive number of
distributed sites requires simpler and more efficient management by using cloud, AI,
and intelligent capabilities.

Safety Challenges
Safety needs to be considered from the perspective of the entire power system, not
just the equipment itself. In the meantime, we need to raise the requirements on
the safety and stability of the user-end power supply and improve the end-to-end
safety capability of the system.

Foreword
As the world moves closer to carbon neutrality, the global PV and energy storage capacity additions
of 2023 are expected to exceed 400 GW and 160 GWh, respectively. In China, utility-scale scenarios
have diversified to include plateaus, deserts, wastelands, and agrivoltaics. As a result, market space has
significantly increased and the PV and energy storage sector has continued to grow rapidly. Energy storage
system (ESS) has become a key to renewable energy development. Integrated with ESS, PV is rapidly
shifting from a supplemental energy source to a dominant one.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), global installed PV capacity is expected To address the preceding challenges, Huawei releases the 10 trends to support the
to reach 5200 GW by 2030 and 14,000 GW by 2050, making it the primary energy source. high-quality development of the PV industry.

01
 Contents Trend 5
Four-Dimensional Safety P14
Trend 6
Cell to Grid BESS Safety P18

Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 7 Trend 8

PV & ESS is Becoming Stable Power P04 Tens of millions of power plants management P06 MLPE and CLPE P20 High Voltage and Reliability P23

Trend 3 Trend 4 Trend 9 Trend 10

Full-Lifecycle Intelligence P08 Grid Forming in All Scenarios P10 High Frequency and Density P25 High Power Quality P27

02 03
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 1 PV & ESS is Becoming Stable Power

In terms of technologies with the accelerated convergence of PV+ESS and the wide application of new materials
and technologies, the power supply stability of PV+ESS systems is significantly improved. For example, the application
of third-generation semiconductors, such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride, significantly improves the efficiency and
reliability of power components. The safety design of PV+ESS systems is also developing rapidly. From AC safety to DC
safety, from hardware safety to software safety and information security, from passive safety to active safety, a multi-
node and multi-dimension safety net is being built. The grid-forming energy storage technologies make it possible

Trend 1
for power grids to integrate a high proportion of renewable energy. In addition, the GWh-level PV+ESS grid forming
capability has been proven in real-world projects.

PV & ESS is Becoming Stable Power

Application
Huawei has participated in the 400 MW PV + 1.3 GWh project in The Red Sea Project (TRSP), Saudi Arabia. It is the world's
largest microgrid energy storage project and has been successfully delivered in October 2023. TRSP is a milestone in Saudi Vision
Background 2030. It is also the world's first new city that is 100% powered by PV+ESS (gensets are used only for emergency power backup).
Once completed, the new city can receive millions of tourists from all over the world every year. This project makes many
impossibles possible. First, in terms of economy, the LCOE of the PV+ESS microgrid is lower than US$0.1, which is less than 1/3
According to statistics, in 2023, the new installed PV capacity
of the genset power supply cost. This is in line with Saudi Arabia's goal of achieving green and sustainable development. In
worldwide has exceeded 400 GW. According to Electricity
addition, thanks to the intelligent control algorithm, Huawei's PV+ESS system can achieve a maximum PV-to-ESS power ratio of
Market Report 2023 released by the International Energy
2:1. With the same energy storage capacity, more PV modules can be connected, greatly reducing the system LCOE. In contrast,
Agency (IEA), renewables will dominate the growth of global
conventional solutions often use products of different vendors and can achieve a maximum of PV-to-ESS power ratio of 1:1 to
electricity supply over the next three years, and PV power will
prevent PV power from be charging into ESSs in case of anomalies.
play an important role. In the past, PV power was restricted
by factors such as the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE). In terms of power supply stability, Huawei's grid-forming technologies can be used to build an independent and resilient
Therefore, it was used as a supplementary energy source and power grid. The microgrid for TRSP is the world's first GWh-level application of the grid-forming energy storage technologies.
accounted for only a small proportion of the total power To achieve stable supply of 100% renewable energy, Huawei participated in the architecture design of the entire power grid
supply. Over the past three years, with the exponential and repeatedly verified the architecture with the world's largest (8.8 MW) PV+ESS off-grid test platform based on powerful
Comparison of annual power generation changes of
growth of PV systems around the world, the share of PV simulation modeling capabilities. A series of new technologies are used to safeguard the brand-new city that emerges in the
different types of energy sources
in power supply keeps increasing. Especially against the desert, such as GWh-level black start and off-grid continuous fault ride-through. TRSP is not only a shining star in Saudi Vision
backdrop of PV+ESS convergence and grid parity of PV+ESS 2030 but also a milestone in the development of green civilization.
systems, PV/ESS systems have evolved from a supplementary
energy source to a stable energy source, and have the
potential to become a primary energy source over the next
three years.

Trend
PV+ESS has evolved from a supplementary energy source to a stable energy source, and will become a primary energy source.
The driving factors are as follows:

In terms of business as the costs of PV modules and ESSs continue to decrease, the LCOE of PV systems has The Red Sea project
decreased by more than 60% in the past three years. As the price of lithium carbonate decreases sharply, the Levelized
in Saudi Arabia:
Cost of Storage (LCOS) of ESSs has decreased by more than 70%. As a result, PV+ESS power becomes commercially
400MW + 1.3GWh
viable in more scenarios and grows even faster.

04 05
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 2 Tens of millions of power plants management

Collaborative scheduling of generation, grid, load, and storage and multiple energy sources By 2030, the global
renewable energy power generation capacity will be tripled. Intelligent scheduling and management of ultra-large-scale
power plants are the core capabilities. Deep integration of energy and information technologies is the trend. Leveraging
advanced big data, AI large models, and IoT communication control technologies, resources such as PV plants, energy
storage systems (ESSs), adjustable loads, electric vehicles (EVs), and power grids can be aggregated to implement
efficient collaboration between power supplies, power grids, loads, and ESSs, systematically improve dynamic balance of
the power system, and maximize energy resource utilization.

Trend 2 Open ecosystem Home energy management is developing rapidly in Europe. Up to now, more than 1.1 million
households in Europe have deployed multi-energy home energy management systems. Therefore, providing open

Tens of millions of power plants management

northbound interfaces for ecosystem cooperation has become a trend in the industry. Based on the northbound capability,
intelligent prediction and optimization as well as power trading capabilities can be combined to maximize benefits in the
power trading market by using collaborative scheduling of plant inverters, ESSs, power grids, and smart loads.

Background Application
Huawei FusionSolar SmartPVMS–Intelligent Management
In 2023, the new installed PV capacity exceeded 350 GW and the new installed energy storage capacity exceeded 110 GW, of Tens of Millions of Plant Devices
and the numbers are still increasing rapidly. PV& ESS has become an important way for countries around the world to achieve
the carbon peaking and neutrality goals. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), cheaper PV modules, higher PV By 2023, Huawei FusionSolar SmartPVMS has achieved unified, efficient, and stable access and management of over 5 million devices
adoption rate, and policies that encourage large-scale deployment will catalyze higher growth in all major markets, including in Europe. Based on the distributed technology of cloud-native architecture, it makes comprehensive use of technologies such as IoT,
China, the European Union, the United States, and India. big data, and artificial intelligence, and can carry out operation monitoring, intelligent diagnosis, efficient scheduling, and intelligent
From 2022 to 2027, the proportion of new distributed PV diagnosis. It connects to more than 15,000 weather stations around the world to predict energy yields accurate to 1 hour.
installations worldwide is expected to increase from 47% to
Low-Carbon City in Longgang, Shenzhen–China's first leading
PV capacity

58%, surpassing that of centralized PV plants and becoming

forecast/GW
Utility：C&I：Residential
42%：33%：25%

an important incremental market in the renewable energy

600

500
Utility：C&I：Residential
53%：27%：20%
488
538
project of zero-energy-consumption stadium-type buildings
field. However, plants with tens of millions of devices and
436

384
400

the integration of an increasing proportion of renewables 300

Utility：C&I：Residential
62%：25%：13% 267
323

The International Low-Carbon City Convention and Exhibition Center in Longgang District, Shenzhen, China uses Huawei Digital
Power's "Energy Cloud Network + Smart PV+ESS" solution to build China's first nearly zero-energy venue, equipped with 1.1
193

will have greater impact on the power grids. To address the

200
142
121
99 94

MW PV and 2 MWh ESS. Multiple energy synergies and complementarities can be achieved through the intelligent energy
77
100

challenges, it is crucial to build a digitalized and intelligent

50

management system. The PV system, charging network, energy communication controller, smart lights, and smart cooling
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027

network for efficient and intelligent scheduling of power Utility C&I Residential

generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption and 2 Huawei confidential. No spreading without permission.
products can be collaborated to achieve flexible scheduling of power generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption

for the integration of multiple energy sources. Forecast of the growth trend of global PV new installation and maximize energy utilization. According to the characteristics of low-carbon buildings, Shenzhen International Low-Carbon
City will produce 1.27 million kWh of green electricity each year, reducing carbon emissions by 606 tons (equivalent to planting
31,000 trees). The campus becomes a benchmark for low-carbon campuses.

Trend The International

Low-Carbon
City Convention
and Exhibition
Management of ultra-large-scale PV plants Using cloud-native fully distributed technologies, tens of millions of Center Longgang,
PV & ESS devices can be connected to the management system in minutes for intelligent management, and smooth Shenzhen, China
capacity expansion and big data analytics are supported. The new intelligent energy management system integrates
"Energy Cloud
renewable energy devices, advanced sensing, information and communication, signal control, and energy storage
Network + Smart
technologies to form a smart energy network with tens of millions of interconnected and collaborative energy nodes, to
PV+ESS" solution
better support the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the power system.

06 07
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 3 Full-Lifecycle Intelligence

In the plant maintenance phase Currently,

intelligent power plant O&M is widely used. It can
implement functions such as power generation
performance analysis, charge and discharge
m a n a g e m e n t , c e l l c o e f f i c i e n t o f va r i a t i o n
analysis, fault diagnosis and location, alarm, and
troubleshooting suggestion. The accumulated plant

Trend 3
data will lead to predictive maintenance in the
coming years. By establishing an AI fault model,
you can predict the device status trend and indicate
possible risks in the future, facilitating prompt site

Full-Lifecycle Intelligence inspection, rectification, and spare parts delivery. At

the same time, as the plant scale becomes larger,
intra-plant road network modeling and navigation
will be applied on a large scale to quickly locate

Background faults. The old and new functions combined can

make O&M intelligent and 70% more efficient.
While the installed capacity of PV & ESS power plants is increasing, power electronics and digital technologies are increasingly
integrated. As early as the end of 2021, the Smart PV Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan (2021-2025) jointly
released by the five departments of the Chinese government provides guidance in terms of intelligent design, integration, and In the plant operation phase Intelligence will make outstanding contributions to revenue improvement during plant
O&M. With the continuous evolution of digital and intelligent technologies, technologies such as 5G, AI, cloud computing, operation. For centralized plants, AI large models will further improve the accuracy of short-term and ultra-short-term
big data, and the IoT have experienced exponential development. Managing watts with bits has been widely accepted in the PV output power prediction and the efficiency of PV & ESS collaboration. It can not only reduce PV curtailment, improve
industry. PV & ESS plants are experiencing digital transformation. Intelligent monitoring, O&M, and management tools, such as consumption, but also reduce penalties caused by inaccurate forecast. For distributed plants, high-precision prediction
the digital operation platform and drone inspection system, are used to improve the O&M efficiency and reliability of PV plants. is achieved not only in power generation, but also in power load prediction. AI can accurately predict power demand to
However, against the backdrop of high-speed construction, multi-energy complementation, and collaborative scheduling, both properly plan and allocate PV and ESS resources, and maximize benefits in the complex power trading market.
centralized and distributed PV & ESS power plants face pressures in terms of efficiency, quality, and revenue, requiring full-
lifecycle intelligence. The intelligence throughout PV & ESS plant lifecycle enables high quality, high efficiency, and high revenue, improves the
reliability and stability of PV & ESS plants, and facilitates the development and application of renewable energy.

Trend
Digital and intelligent technologies will play a key role in the entire lifecycle of power plants, including planning, construction,
Application
maintenance, and operation.
Located at an altitude higher than 4000 m on the Sichuan-Tibet Plateau, the Kela PV project alongside the Yalong River covers
an area of 16 square kilometers. To put this in perspective, that's 80 China National Stadiums. With more than 2 million PV
In the plant planning phase drones, satellites, and robots are used for survey to throughly evaluate the surrounding
modules, the plant has an installed capacity of 1 million kW. The Kela PV plant and the Lianghekou hydro plant can supplement
environment of the plant, improve the survey quality and efficiency, and assist in PV plant site selection, design, and
each other, and the hydro-solar project is a world-
decision-making. Especially for distributed power plants, obstacles on complex rooftops can be identified using drone
class benchmark energy base on a plateau. From
and satellite images to accurately determine the PV installation capacity. The plant design tool can automatically design
this project, Huawei FusionSolar and Yalong River
distributed plants, including 3D rooftop modelling, module layout and cable connection design, and device selection. By
Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. set up a joint
analyzing the historical power consumption, the tool can intelligently recommend the ESS configuration proportion and
innovation center to work with partners to do
provide an ROI report. The overall planning time is halved.
research on key technologies to address the pain
points and difficulties in PV plant construction,
In the plant construction phase the large area, remote site, a large number of construction personnel and O&M, and operation, enabling intelligent PV plant
materials, and tight construction schedule pose great challenges to the monitoring of the construction progress and operations. By building a digital base, Huawei uses
quality. Because site surveillance has not been completed in the construction phase, drones equipped with HD zoom technologies such as high-precision ultra-short-
cameras become mobile "supervisors". The reality modelling technology is used to intelligently compare the onsite term power prediction, drone-based modeling,
status with the design drawing to determine whether the construction is in progress as scheduled. The video can be digital twin, and Smart Co-Diagnosis System to
used to intelligently detect whether the module tilt angle and pile foundation positions meet the requirements, reducing implement all-domain sensing, precise prediction,
quality problems by 40%. Anomalies, such as improperly piled materials, workers who do not dress as required, and and refined control, building a large, easy-to-
unexpected fires can be intelligently identified to ensure onsite safety. manage, safe, and leading intelligent base.

08 09
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 4 Grid Forming in All Scenarios

The grid-forming solution involves the following technologies.

01 Voltage establishment
technology

To imitate the voltage establishment process

Trend 4
of synchronous units, the grid-forming solution
converts the traditional current control to
voltage control by inputting a given voltage
and phase. Therefore, for the grid system,

Grid Forming in All Scenarios the grid-forming solution is a voltage source

capable of voltage establishment.
Basic control diagram of grid forming
technologies

Background
The new power system with new energy as the main source is crucial to achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon
02 Virtual inertia support technology

neutrality. The mechanical motion equation of synchronous units is imitated using control policies based on the virtual inertia J and

Compared with synchronous units, renewable energy has a low controllability and rotation inertia. As the penetration rate of damping coefficient D of the grid-forming solution. In this case, the PV and energy storage batteries can be compared to a

renewable energy increases, conventional renewable energy systems cannot proactively support the voltage and frequency like prime mover, and the converter is equivalent to a generator. In this way, the two-stage model of synchronous units can be

synchronous units when a fault occurs. As a result, it is increasingly difficult for conventional renewable energy systems to meet imitated. The frequency change of the system is usually caused by the impact of unbalanced power. In this process, the grid-

the requirements of new power systems, which brings great challenges to the safe and stable operation of the power system. forming solution also senses the effect of unbalanced power. Under the effect of unbalanced torque, the grid-forming solution
actively and quickly injects electromagnetic power into the power grid to imitate the changes in the kinetic energy of the rotor
Moreover, for a synchronous unit solution such as a condenser, the initial cost mainly consists of the costs of materials such and implement inertia support for the system. Different from those of synchronous units, the parameters of the power electronic
as copper coils, silicon steel, and alloy steel. In addition, secondary investment to compensate for the 1% to 2% loss further equipment are less prone to hardware limitation. Therefore, the virtual inertia J and damping coefficient D of the grid-forming
increases electricity cost. Moreover, synchronous units are large rotating devices and must be under the watch of O&M solution can be set flexibly to adapt to different operation scenarios and improve the frequency control of the system.
personnel around the clock. Regular overhauls and minor repairs also increase O&M costs. Therefore, the heavy investment
throughout the lifecycle greatly affects the return on investment (ROI) of the owner.

Trend 03 Power oscillation damping (POD) technology+adaptive virtual

impedance technology
The weak power grid problem caused by the integration of a high proportion of renewable energy has been widely recognized.
The industry is exploring new technologies to solve this problem. As Huawei Smart PV released the grid-forming solution in the Generally, a power system stabilizer (PSS) is added to the
top 10 trends last year, the grid forming technology has garnered attention of the entire industry. For example, China's provinces excitation system of synchronous units to form an additional
such as Xinjiang and Tibet, and organizations and countries such as the European Union and Finland have released grid forming damping control to improve the system damping and
policies to support the development of the technology. suppress low-frequency oscillation. Based on this principle, the
low-frequency POD technology is introduced to the power
plant controller (PPC) to enable the grid-forming solution
to have the PSS function of synchronous units and output
additional damping control power. In this way, the low-
frequency oscillation in the range of 0.1 Hz to 2.5 Hz can be
suppressed. The following figure shows the simulation effect
of low-frequency POD in PPC. To solve the subsynchronous/
supersynchronous oscillation, Huawei Smart PV solution uses
the adaptive virtual impedance technology to dynamically
adjust the electrical characteristics of the plant through AI Power suppression effect of low-frequency POD
self-learning to match the power grid characteristics. In this

10 11
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 4 Grid Forming in All Scenarios

way, the inverter and PCS can actively adjust low voltage fault ride-through, primary frequency response (PFR), and inertia response tests. The tests fully verify that the grid
their impedance and change the amplitude- forming renewable power generation systems are critical to support grids with a high proportion of renewable energy, marking a
frequency and phase-frequency characteristics milestone in the development of renewable energy.
of the output impedance to improve stability.
This prevents power oscillation caused by
insufficient damping in the subsynchronous/
supersynchronous frequency bands. In this
way, the oscillation in the range of 2.5–100
Hz can be suppressed.

Adaptive virtual impedance technology

Based on the preceding technologies, the grid-forming solution can support reactive current up to 3 times the rated current,
equivalent rotational inertia of up to 20s, and wide-frequency (0.1–100 Hz) oscillation damping capability to ensure power
grid stability (voltage, frequency, and rotor angle). From the perspective of capability, the grid-forming solution is equivalent to
conventional synchronous unit solution.

From the perspective of business value, with the further decrease in cell costs and the development of digital intelligent
In September 2023, ACWA POWER, SEPCOIII, and Huawei
technologies and grid connection technologies, the grid-forming solution is more economical than the conventional synchronous
jointly built the PV & ESS microgrid project for TRSP in
unit + conventional energy storage solution, reducing the cost in the lifecycle.
Saudi Arabia. It is the world's largest PV & ESS microgrid
project (400 MW PV and 1.3 GWh energy storage) and
a key part of Saudi Vision 2030. TRSP will become the
first city in the world that is powered 100% by renewable
energy. The PV & ESS microgrid replaces conventional
diesel generators to provide clean and stable power for
1 million people. The project helps Saudi Arabia build a
global clean energy and green economy center, setting
a great example for the world in terms of clean power
supply with PV and energy storage.

In September 2023, under the guidance of China Electric Power Research Institute and Qinghai Electric Power Research Institute,
Huawei and China Energy Investment jointly completed the world's first onsite testing of the grid-forming ESS for weak grids
in the Golmud power plant in Qinghai. More than 510 tests were performed, including steady-state response test at different
Driven by policies, technologies, and business values, grid forming will be used in more scenarios, from utility-scale to C&I and
short-circuit ratios (SCRs), grid transient response test, and phase angle and frequency change test at different SCRs, impedance
residential plants, and from PV to wind and hydro power plants. This will increase the integration of all types of renewable
change, low-frequency oscillation, variable damping
energy and accelerate the development of a new power system dominated by renewables.
control, overload capability, and black start tests. It is
the world's first testing of the electrical characteristics
and specifications of grid-forming solution in weak

Application
grid scenario. It proves that Huawei's grid-forming
solution supports both weak and strong grids to
maintain grid stability, and can be used to integrate
a high proportion of renewables and build a new
Based on the grid-forming solution developed by Huawei, Huawei worked with China Resources Power on the continuous
power system.
verification and demonstration of the research topics under the guidance of China Electric Power Research Institute and Qinghai
Electric Power Research Institute in 2022, and completed the world's first grid forming PV & ESS system test at Gonghe PV
plant in Qinghai in January 2023. The tests include parallel stability of the grid forming system, one-time and multi-time high/

12 13
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 5 Four-Dimensional Safety

The third dimension is network security. We need to build a secure and trustworthy network architecture
and perform security certification from product-level to carrier-grade to ensure network reliability,
The
third availability, security, resilience, and achieve the framework safety of new power networks.
dimension
To ensure reliability, availability, and resilience of plants and prevent external attacks, the most important
thing is to prevent unauthorized access to system information, ensure that personal privacy or sensitive
data is not disclosed, and ensure that information is not modified or tampered with by unauthorized
users, and take measures such as secure boot, digital signature, and centralized certificate management.

Trend 5
However, such passive information protection cannot cope with the complex and changing network
environments. Therefore, active security is also needed to improve the security and resilience of the
power plant systems. For example, the system intrusion detection policies need to be adjusted in real
time. After detecting a network security event or potential risk, the plant system can respond to the

Four-Dimensional Safety
event promptly and take corresponding measures to quickly restore the functions and services to ensure
service continuity.

In addition, the networking protocols of the management system are modularized to minimize the
impact of external network attacks on the plant system and minimize economic losses.

Background
The fourth dimension is power system safety by evolving from grid following to grid supporting and
grid forming. From dispatching prediction and control to emergency recovery, digital enablement and
For the stability and fast development of new power systems dominated by renewables around the world, we need to ensure The
fourth intelligent interconnection between power grids must be implemented so that different energy sources
safety from multiple dimensions. Many organizations and vendors are also conducting research on this issue. However, they
dimension can supplement each other by collaboration between power generation, grid, load, and storage. To
focus more on the basic safety of energy equipment, such as providing more protection and preventive measures and intelligent
ensure the safety of a new power system, we need to consider two aspects. First, we need to consider
detection measures, to ensure the stable running of equipment. Some organizations study the security of new power system
the safety of multiple energy sources on the power generation side, and the complementary allocation
networks to ensure the security of plant information and prevent unauthorized access to or tampering with personal privacy
of hydro, solar, and wind energy sources to maximize the energy utilization. Second, we need to ensure
data. However, these are not enough. We need to look for a solution from a higher dimension to ensure the long-term safety
the safety of the entire network architecture of the power generation, grid, load, and storage, including
and stability of power systems.
the power generation side, transmission side, distribution network, and load. The allocation mechanism,
fault ride-through, and load requirements on power quality must be considered.

Trend
To ensure the long-term safety and stability of power systems, Huawei implements a four-dimensional safety solution.

The four dimensions are as follows

The first dimension is supply safety. By building a supply system for core plant devices and ensuring
The the security of plant-level and cloud-based systems, the safety foundation of new power systems
first is consolidated. The core devices refer to the key components. The long-term stable supply of such
dimension components must be ensured. The operating system of electric power systems is the basis for the stable
operation of power plants. The system must be able to support update and upgrade throughout the
lifecycle.

The second dimension is device safety. Based on power electronics and digital technologies, preventive

The diagnosis and refined management are implemented to ensure the safety of each device in the power
second system. Vendors take digital and refined measures to continuously improve the safety protection
dimension capability of devices, as well as the safety of connected dumb devices. For example, the combination of
inverters and PV optimizers can not only detect device faults, but also detect cable arcing, grounding,
and impedance and locate module faults to ensure the safety and reliability of each node.

14 15
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 5 Four-Dimensional Safety

Commercial and Industrial PV Safety White Paper

Application
C&I scenarios involve heavy assets and complex personnel
Common Criteria (CC) management. However, from the perspective of the entire
Huawei commercial inverters have passed the industry's first CC EAL3+ certification, leading the safety certification in the PV PV industry, the design and application of safety solutions
industry. for PV plants have not become a consensus. To achieve high
safety and reliability of C&I PV systems, the entire industry
Industrial cyber security standard IEC 62443 needs to work together. Huawei and TÜV Rheinland jointly
Huawei's network management system, SmartLogger3000, LUNA2000B (C&I ESS), and LUNA2000C (utility ESS) have passed IEC released a C&I PV safety white paper, which puts safety first
62443-4-2 SL2 certification. The product development process has passed the highest level of IEC 62443-4-1 ML3 certification in during design and provides comprehensive protection for
the PV industry. C&I owners by combining system safety design and industry-
leading safety protection technologies. Huawei hopes to
Information security management system standard (ISO27001) work with other industry players to continuously improve C&I
Huawei's information security management has passed the ISO27001 series certification. PV safety standards, build 100% safe and reliable PV plants,
facilitate low-carbon transformation in all walks of life, and
The technologies and joint efforts of the industry and the whole society will help the PV industry build digital trust and achieve
build sustainable business.
sustainable and healthy development.

Commercial and Industrial ESS Safety White Paper

C&I ESS applies to scenarios such as factories, hospitals,

shopping malls, and campuses. Compared with conventional
power plants, C&I ESS plants involve more complex scenarios,
more difficult fire fighting, and denser personnel and assets.
Therefore, safety requirements on C&I ESS are higher. To
help the industry better understand the safety design of C&I
ESSs, Huawei and TÜV Rheinland jointly released the C&I
ESS Safety White Paper to explore C&I ESS safety in terms
of equipment, assets, and personnel and introduce future-
oriented innovative technology paths to address the safety
challenges.

Application in Yalong River Plant and TRSP

The safety of power systems must be ensured at architecture level. In the Yalong River Plant, multiple complementary energy
sources and stable operation are also considered. In the microgrid for TRSP, the holistic safety of power generation, grid, load,
and storage is considered and verified.

16 17
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 6 Cell to Grid BESS Safety

System specifications such as the number of The ESS charge and discharge, consistency, and
At the At the
cycles and efficiency have been paid more health need to be diagnosed from multiple
cell system
level attention in the real project. However, as the level dimensions. The AI technology is used to build a
cell capacity is increasing, the energy density prediction model to identify risks and generate
of the system is increasing as well. This results warnings in advance. At the same time, end-to-
the quality and performance of batteries have end protection measures after thermal runaway
a great impact on ESS safety. To ensure battery must be considered from multiple aspects to
safety, strict tests and quality control must be prevent further deterioration of the situation.

Trend 6
performed to ensure the safety and reliability of
ESS plays a significant role to maintain grid
cells, which are the first line of defense. At the
stability. Therefore, it should not only focus on
grid
Passive balancing is widely used in the industry level the safety of BESS and PCS, but also the issues
At the
Cell to Grid BESS Safety
to solve the inconsistency and uncertainty in real grid operation need to be considered as
pack
level between cells. The battery packs must be well, such as wide-band oscillation, transient
protected by refined proactive control and overvoltage, power quality deterioration, and
shutdown capabilities to isolate faulty units stability issues of islanded PV & ESS system, and
promptly to minimize the impact and property HVRT/LVRT. We need to use grid algorithms and
loss. technologies such as adaptive HVRT to support
Background The rack-level battery protection is implemented
ESS grid forming and improve grid stability.
At the
in both hardware and software. That is, the
The large-scale application of ESSs and the upgrade of safety standards require the safety from cell level to grid level. In recent rack
level BMS active control and physical isolation using
years, the rapid development of energy storage technologies also brings a series of safety challenges. Safety accidents occurred
circuit breakers and fuses quickly disconnect
from time to time. Some are caused by internal cell management, and some are caused by failed high/low-voltage ride-through
faulty components in case of faults, such as
(HVRT/LVRT). ESS is an important part of a new power system. Its safety must be designed from cell level to grid level across
short circuit and overcurrent.
scenarios and dimensions, with effective management and control measures, to ensure the safety of the entire power system.

Application
Trend
In 2023, a 100 MW energy storage project in Hubei province in China used Huawei's battery risk warning function to implement
The ESS safety design needs to integrate power electronics, digital, thermal, electrochemical, and AI technologies to implement cell-level fault warning. This function can identify more than 10 faults in advance, such as internal short circuits, abnormal
refined monitoring and management at the cell, battery pack, battery rack, ESS, and power grid levels to ensure ESS safety, temperature, and overcurrent. If an HVRT occurs during the ESS operation, the bus voltage can be dynamically adjusted based
efficiency, and grid forming capability. on the DC/DC+DC/AC dual-stage architecture of the ESS and the PCS adaptive HVRT algorithm to ensure stable active output.
In addition, the battery voltage remains unchanged during HVRT, preventing energy backflow from the power grid to the ESS
and ensuring the safe operation of the entire power plant.

BESS project in Hubei

Province, China
Cell to Grid BESS Safety

18 19
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 7 MLPE and CLPE

Therefore, we need to further improve the power generation, storage, and O&M efficiency of distributed PV, ensure power
consumption safety and efficiency, and implement refined management and O&M through innovative technologies.

Trend
In a PV system, module-level power electronics (MLPE) refer to power electronic equipment that can perform refined control

Trend 7 on one or more PV modules, including micro inverters, power optimizers, and disconnectors. MLPE brings unique values such as
module-level power generation, monitoring, and safe shutdown.

In recent years, PV rapid shutdown (RSD) standards have been released and implemented in various countries. The US's

MLPE and CLPE NEC 2020B stipulates that the system should be shut down within 30s in an emergency. The European VDE-AR-E 2100-
712 safety standard has been enforced. Australia's AS 5033:2020 and Thailand's EIT Standard are also being implemented.
As more customers attach importance to features such as safety and high energy yield, the market value of MLPE is further
explored. Therefore, its market acceptance and market share increase rapidly. Take the power optimizer as an example. The
annual shipment of power optimizers has exceeded 20 million worldwide. Looking back on the development path of PV power

Background electronics, we can see a trend from central inverters to string inverters. The system-level maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
is upgraded to the string-level MPPT, improving the energy yield by more than 3%. In the future, string inverters will evolve
toward optimizers to achieve module-level optimized power generation and monitoring. The energy yield and safety of the PV
Driven by industry policies and technology advancement, distributed PV has witnessed vigorous development in recent years. system will be further improved.
However, with the rapid growth of the total installed capacity, the rooftop resources for large-scale PV installation become more
and more scarce. We are facing challenges such as how to maximize PV installation on multi-pitched rooftops and rooftops
prone to shading. In addition, distributed PV systems are mainly installed on rooftops, and safety risks related to high voltage on
the DC side need to be addressed. Furthermore, as distributed PV plants are scattered, it is difficult to implement refined O&M
and management relying on manual work.

History of PV power electronics

Similar to PV systems shifting towards MLPE, lithium BESSs are set to develop towards smaller management granularities. Cell-
Cell-level management level power electronics (CLPE) implement refined management for cells and detect and warn about safety risks in advance
to improve ESS throughput and facilitate the trading in the power market, such as VPP frequency regulation. Currently, the
The gradual increase of the total installed capacity drives the market space of string ESS. In a lithium battery energy storage traditional battery management system (BMS) can only aggregate and analyse limited data, and it is almost impossible
system (BESS), the lifecycle energy efficiency and system safety are the most important. With deep integration of power to detect faults and generate warnings in the early stage. Therefore, BMS needs to be more sensitive, intelligent, and even
electronics, electrochemical, thermal management, and digital technologies in the energy storage field, the management predictive. This depends on the collection, computing, and processing of a large amount of data, and AI technologies to find the
granularity of the ESS has evolved from extensive management for centralized systems to refined management at the battery optimal operating mode and make forecasts.
rack and pack levels.

20 21
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 8 High Voltage and Reliability

Application

The 300 MW whole-county rollout of distributed PV in Xiangcheng County, Xuchang City helps revitalize the local
economy. The PV system in Kuzhuang Middle School adopts the full optimizer configuration, which has the following
features:

Trend 8
Compliance with the NEC 2020 safe shutdown standard and all-round safety protection for power consumption,

equipment installation, and system O&M

Efficient and intelligent power generation and

25.9% higher installed capacity than traditional

solutions, greatly improving the space utilization High Voltage and Reliability
and aesthetic appearance of rooftop PV modules. In

addition, the optimizers can effectively reduce series-

parallel mismatch loss and increase the energy

yields in the first year and throughout the lifecycle Background

by 6.65% and 9.7%, respectively.
According to statistics released by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the
global weighted average levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of PV plants fell by 89%
from US$0.445/kWh in 2010 to $0.049/kWh in 2022. On the premise that IEC standards
are met, PV inverters are designed to continuously improve the DC/AC voltage level to
In terms of safety, Wuhan built the first "highly reduce the LCOE of the systems. Emerging PV technological innovations accelerate the
safe gas station" of China National Petroleum reduction of LCOE. PV will replace traditional energy at a faster pace.
C o r p o ra t i o n . Th e s y s t e m a d o p t s t h e f u l l -
configuration optimizer solution, which can quickly
shut down the rooftop voltage to 0 V and shut
down the PV module output in case of emergency,
allowing firefighters to rescue and fully meeting Trend
the strict safety requirements of the gas station. LCOE Trend of PV Plants

AC/DC voltage increase

The reduction of LCOE for PV systems depends to a large extent on the continuous increase of voltage.

The voltage on the DC side of an inverter system has increased from 600 V to 1000 V and then to 1500 V. The corresponding
The cloud BMS solution uses a large number of voltage on the AC side has gradually increased from 270 V and 380 V to 800 V. PV technological innovations raise the DC and
voltage, current, and temperature sensors deployed AC voltage levels, accelerating the reduction of LCOE for PV systems. Meanwhile, high-voltage development will reduce cable
in the ESS to collect massive data and migrate loss and improve the performance ratio. It is estimated that PV plants will evolve toward higher voltage in the future, exceeding
the data to the cloud. Based on AI algorithms 1500 V on the DC side and 1000 V on the AC side.
and models, the solution can effectively monitor
the battery cell status and forecast the trend. In
the battery nail penetration test, a steel needle
Reliability improvement
with a diameter of 1 mm is used to simulate a
derivative internal short circuit. The cloud BMS can The system reliability will be further improved to cope with the impact of higher voltage.
implement hour-level battery cell thermal runaway
The high-voltage trend will not only result in LCOE reduction to the PV industry, but also pose new challenges to the reliability
warning to avoid causing greater losses. The
of PV systems.
cloud BMS technology has been reliably verified
in electric vehicles with larger data volume and Device reliability Based on previous research, continuous innovations will be carried out by using new materials and

higher timeliness requirements. Puncture test for LFP cells components to facilitate the stable operation of devices such as PV inverters in high-voltage scenarios.

22 23
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 9 High Frequency and Density

System reliability As the system voltage rises, risks will increase accordingly. Reliability of individual devices cannot ensure
the stable operation of the whole system. It is estimated that in the next three to five years, bipolar high-voltage architecture
and system-level safety protection capabilities will be used to ensure that PV systems run reliably for a long term.

Application
In June 2023, the 1 GW Kela PV Plant Phase 1 alongside the Yalong River (altitudes: 4000–4600 meters), was connected to the
power grid. Located in Ganzi, Sichuan Province, China, this project is the world's largest and highest-altitude hydro-solar hybrid
power plant. The PV plant uses Huawei's 1500 V DC Smart PV Controllers. In the frigid and high-altitude area, electrical safety
Trend 9
risks are high as the thin air would weaken the insulation strength of electrical devices and low temperatures would compromise
the device reliability. Up to now, more than 3000 Huawei Smart PV Controllers have been operating stably there to deliver over
High Frequency and Density
2 billion kWh of clean electricity every year, proving that both the devices and systems are reliable enough to tolerate the impact
of high voltages.

Background
Driven by industry policies and technology development,
distributed PV has been booming in recent years. Along with
the rapid growth of the total installed capacity, PV systems
have been deployed on or designed for a great number of
suitable rooftops. Many air conditioner outdoor units or
communications devices may be installed on the rooftops,
resulting in complex conditions for PV deployment. Smaller
inverters with a higher energy density are essential to make
Yalong River 1GW Keda PV
full use of the limited spaces on numerous C&I or residential
Plant @Sichuan Province
rooftops. In addition, PV optimizers are often adopted on
complex rooftops. It is now a new development direction Complex rooftop
in the industry to provide more economical and reliable
optimizer solutions for installers.
On September 30, 2020, the world's largest single-site PV plant — 2.2 GW ultra-high voltage (UHV) PV plant built by Huanghe
Hydropower and Huawei — went live in Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai Province. The plant is 3100 m above sea level and has 9216
Huawei Smart PV Controllers running stably in this harsh environment. The total availability hours of the Smart PV Controllers Trend
exceed 20 million hours, and the availability reaches 99.999%. This plant supplies 5 billion kWh clean electricity to Zhumadian,
Henan Province through the Qinghai-Henan DC power transmission line over a distance of 1500 km. A combination of third-generation semiconductors and digital technologies will continuously increase the power density of
power electronic converters, which is set to improve the quality and efficiency of PV systems. As the power of individual devices
increases, the unit cost will be continuously diluted and decreased thanks to the marginal effect. However, lower power will
result in larger device size and heavier weight, especially for distributed power plants. Consequently, installation, construction,
and O&M will become increasingly difficult, which will increase the costs. We believe that PV devices will evolve toward high
frequency and high density in the future.
Semiconductor characteristics
The increase of power density is not just about higher Band Gap (eV)

power, but requires upgrade of many technologies,

including material science, heat dissipation technology, and
Thermal Conductivity Critical Breakdown
engineering technology. Third-generation wide-bandgap (W/cm·K) Electric Field (MV/cm)

semiconductor materials represented by silicon carbide (SiC)

feature small on-voltage drop, high temperature tolerance,
high voltage resistance, and low loss. They can be used
Hainan 2.2GW High DC PV Plant @Qinghai Province in conjunction with high-frequency magnetic technology Electron Saturation Drift Velocity (107cm/s) Electron Mobility (cm2/V·s)

24 25
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Trend 10 High Power Quality

to boost the overall operating efficiency of switch devices while reducing the overall loss. With high-frequency application at
the device level, the energy density of the product will be significantly improved. Driven by technological innovations such as
efficient heat dissipation and integrated drive technology, it is estimated that there will be a 30%, 50%, and 10% increase in
energy density respectively for PV inverters, optimizers, and energy storage devices in the next three to five years. In this way, the
quality and efficiency of PV devices will be raised to a higher level.

Application
In response to the call for carbon neutrality, Shanghai intensifies efforts to promote the high-quality development of PV
applications and related industries by encouraging PV deployment wherever conditions permit. A batch of "PV+" projects have
Trend 10
High Power Quality
been implemented to drive the green energy transition and low-carbon development of industries across the city. For example,
Shanghai Xinguo Power Technology Co., Ltd. rolled out a distributed 1 MW rooftop PV project to accelerate green and low-
carbon transformation.

Background
With the rapid development of PV & ESS, PV has become a stable source of electricity. As such, technological progress and
breakthroughs should be accelerated to further reduce costs and improve efficiency in order to develop a stable, reliable,
economical, and efficient alternative for traditional energy sources. High power quality will be a development trend in the next
three to five years. Behind the trend lies two driving forces. First, new power systems are developing rapidly, with an outpouring
of renewable energy. Second, high-tech industries are growing at a faster pace, requiring an increasing number of intricate
and precision electrical devices that are sensitive to power quality issues and in urgent need of high-quality power. With such
insights, we propose the concept of "high power quality" and aspire to provide more stable and reliable clean energy.

Trend
Global IEC standards, pan-European standards, and Chinese national standards all will continuously raise their
requirements on power quality.

The existing standards require that the THDi be less than 5%, and the industry average is less than 3%.
Project highlights Huawei uses an intelligent harmonic algorithm to reduce the THDi to below 1%, thereby improving the
Harmonic
power supply quality and ensuring safe and economical operation of power systems. In the future, the upper
limit of THDu will need to be reduced from 5% to 3%.
01 02
1.The energy yield increases by 32.3%, helping the Safe and reliable clean energy is available to alleviate
EMC design: The industry requires that EMC be raised from Class A to Class B in both EMI and EMS designs.
company approach energy self-sufficiency and reduce power shortages, reduce power load, cut carbon EMC
While the product power is increased, the electromagnetic interference shielding capability needs to be
costs by leveraging the time-of-use pricing mechanism. emissions, and help build a green factory. design
improved to enhance the power quality and reliability.

Shanghai Xinguo uses the 50 kW inverter + optimizer solution. The next-generation inverters used in the solution provide 20% Reactive/Active power response: The C&I markets set rigid compliance requirements for the power factor. To
Reactive/
higher energy density than the old 50 kW inverter solution, allowing the installer to install certain inverters in narrow spaces. In Active power make full use of electrical equipment, save electric energy, and reduce energy loss, the reactive/active power
addition, thousands of next-generation optimizers are installed in the 1 MW PV plant, helping the owner gain more economic response
response needs to be accelerated from seconds to milliseconds.
benefits. Module-level rapid shutdown and monitoring increase the safety and reduce O&M costs for the PV plant.

26 27
2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends

Application

Centurary

Policies have been set to control the volume and intensity of energy consumption and to promote the market-
oriented electricity price reform in Jiangsu Province. Against this backdrop, Huawei FusionSolar and Centurary
Technology Co., Ltd. worked together to build an 8 MWh energy storage plant (phase 1) and a 1.6 MW PV plant. Combine PV and
The project makes Centurary the first private enterprise that has achieved PV & ESS integration in Jiangsu.
Energy Storage
High power quality quickens Centurary's pace in building a modern energy management system, reduces the
comprehensive energy consumption of its products, and ensures the continuity of green production.
Make Green PV a
Main Energy Source
for Every Home
and Business

Summary
Yinghua With the convergence of 5G, cloud, and AI, we will embrace a green world where all

things will be sensing, connected, and intelligent. In the transformation, Huawei is

Guangdong Yinghua Electronic Materials Co., Ltd.
willing to work with global customers and partners to promote high-quality industry
worked with Huawei FusionSolar to build a distributed
Smart PV demonstration project. The first 4 MW development. Combine PV and energy storage, make green PV a main energy source
C&I PV system equipped with optimizers in northern for every home and business.
Guangdong is deployed on the rooftops of the multi-
functional building and the factories of phases 1 and
2. The project covers a total area of about 38,000
square meters and provides the total installed capacity
of 4.65 MW. The estimated annual energy yield will
reach 5.13 million kWh, which is equivalent to saving
around 25,000 tons of standard coal and reduces more
than 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Huawei
FusionSolar 50 kW inverters, 1100 W one-to-two
optimizers, and SmartPVMS are used in the system.

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