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Study Tour Report

The students visited the Oursun Pakistan Limited (OPL) 50MW solar power plant in Gharo, Thatta. [1] The plant uses photovoltaic solar modules arranged in 25 blocks to generate electricity from sunlight. [2] The electricity is converted from DC to AC by inverters before being stepped up by transformers and transmitted to the Karachi Electric grid via high tension panels in the control room. [3] The plant utilizes monitoring and safety systems like string monitoring boxes, SCADA, breakers and detectors to protect equipment and monitor performance.

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Noor Saba
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186 views

Study Tour Report

The students visited the Oursun Pakistan Limited (OPL) 50MW solar power plant in Gharo, Thatta. [1] The plant uses photovoltaic solar modules arranged in 25 blocks to generate electricity from sunlight. [2] The electricity is converted from DC to AC by inverters before being stepped up by transformers and transmitted to the Karachi Electric grid via high tension panels in the control room. [3] The plant utilizes monitoring and safety systems like string monitoring boxes, SCADA, breakers and detectors to protect equipment and monitor performance.

Uploaded by

Noor Saba
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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One Day Study Tour Report | Submitted To: Sir.

Mazhar Hussain Balouch

OPL
SOLAR POWER PLANT, GHARO
THATTA
A
One day study tour report
On
Solar Power Plant, Gharo, Thatta
Oursun Pakistan Limited (OPL)

Duration
15th February 2020
Submitted By
Group H
Group Members
Noor Saba Phulpoto (K-18EL101)
Mezab-e-Rehmat (K-18EL53)
Duaa Shaikh (K-18EL44)
Syeda Kanza Zehra Zaidi (K-18EL26)
Maha Imtiaz (K-18EL14)
B.E (Third Semester) 2nd Year

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

1
Introduction:
We, the students of 18-batch, electrical engineering department of MUET SZAB
Campus Khairpur Mir’s were provided a chance for one day study tour at Oursun Pakistan
Limited solar power plant, Gharo, Thatta dated 15 th February 2020. This tour was arranged for
the batch so that we may get familiar with the basics of how power is generated through solar
panels such that it would help us in studying our main subjects related to the field including:
generation, transmission, distribution and utilization etc.

About the Plant:


Oursun Pakistan Limited (OPL) started its agreement on supplying power
using PV panels (photovoltaic) to Karachi Electric (KE) when it was provided the license to set
up its first solar power plant having installed capacity of 50MW in Gharo, Thatta during the
years 2016-2017 by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA). For this proposal
KE agreed for a 25 year energy purchase agreement (EPA) for the 50MW solar power project
with OPL so that the consumers of K.E may benefit.

Solar Modules:
As we entered the PV area, we were informed by the site engineers that there
were total 25 number of blocks in the area, there we could see that all the solar panels/modules
were aligned on a structure just like tables in such a position so that the plates may get maximum
amount of sunlight for better power production, these modules were all connected in series in a
string to build the voltage up to proper levels to the inverter.

Fig. 01

2
Fig. 02

String Monitoring Box:


The generation obtained by the solar modules is collected at one place
which is called the string monitoring box (SMB) or the combiner box (CB). The combiner box
combines the output of multiple strings of PV modules for connection to the inverter. There were
separate SMBS for positive PV strings and for negative PV strings, each combiner box contained
total 16 number of strings. In the combiner box, devices called eye-catcher were connected for
the process of communication through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).

Inverters:
The SMBS were connected to the inverters, there were total two inverters named
inverter A and inverter B, each inverter was of the rating 1 MW. These inverters further
contained sub-divisions of 500KW, through inverters the DC power supply obtained from the
panels was converted into the AC supply.

Fig. 03
3
Compact Substation:
The AC supply is then sent to the Compact substation which contains
transformer inside it, this transformer is called the inverter duty transformer which is used to step
up the 380V to 33KV that is the final output obtained.

Fig. 04

Transformers:
By the engineers working at OPL we were informed that there were total 25
number of transformers and as the main task of the plant was to provide energy to KE which is
rated at 132KV, for this purpose power transformers were used, there were two power
transformers which worked on the double bus bar single breaker scheme.

Control Room:
The control room contains the High Tension panels (HT). HT lines use much
higher voltages which is very effective in transmitting power to large distances by increasing the
voltage and decreasing the current. The stepped up AC supply is there obtained at the HT panels
from which the power gets finally transmitted to the grid.

4
Fig. 05

Fig. 06

SCADA:
The eye-catchers installed in the SMBS were all connected to the SCADA system for
the process of data communication. Through SCADA the engineers were able to detect any kind
of fault in the solar modules, this monitoring system is also used for analyzing the amount of
volts or current appearing on the inverters and also to check how many inputs are coming.

5
Safety:
For safety purpose, we were informed that there were breakers, fuses and smoke
detectors connected inside the inverters for protection, controllers for high temperatures and in
case of fire there were separate smoke detectors for other devices as well while surge protection
devices (SPDS) were also installed. This whole process was monitored on SCADA by their
operation team and incase of any emergency or fault their maintenance team would physically
observe the devices to check if the fault occurred in real or not, in case of actual fault the
technician team would work to recover the devices.

References:
https://dailytimes.com.pk/77325/oursun-pakistan-seeks-licence-for-solar-power-generation/

https://dailytimes.com.pk/27872/ke-oursun-ink-agreement-for-50mw-solar-project/

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2013/03/how-to-evaluate-a-solar-combiner-box/

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-HT-and-LT-Line

https://youtu.be/VKoyZxwYmfo

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