The Sinuoso site is located in North-West Mexico, on the edge of the Sonora desert and is a fully off-grid site with both 2G (with air-conditioning) and 3G cellular loads in self-contained cabinets. The site has approximately 7kW of solar already installed and was supposed to be running in a hybrid manner, cycling the batteries. The existing control system never worked and the generator was running 24/7. As a result, the client requested a replacement system that could be proven to operate in a hybrid charge/discharge manner, with the necessary logging to verify its performance.
Enatel’s SYNERGi provided the perfect solution with a configuration of five 2kW Enatel solar converters, nine 2kW rectifiers (phase balanced) and six 1.2kW inverters to be deployed for efficiencies and cost-saving.
By dynamically detecting conditions, the SYNERGi hybrid power system cycles the batteries, saving diesel and maintenance expenses by operating the existing generator in its optimum efficiency power range for longer periods.
Enatel’s 'solar optimization' feature also ensures that the genset does not run if solar power is available. SYNERGi incorporates its own self-learning algorithm to track sunrise through the seasons, thus giving well-defined stop conditions to the generator to ensure it does not run unnecessarily during the 'solar day'.
Operating autonomously, it does not require connection to external date or time references and does not require links to weather forecasting web pages. These efficiencies significantly extend the life of the generator as well as giving the obvious benefits of fuel and service cost reduction.
The system being replaced was a mix of rectifiers, solar converters, and inverters all from different manufacturers. A PLC was acting as the controller. As mentioned, it never operated properly, if at all in a hybrid state.
The SYNERGi solution is a single modular design, sourced solely from Enatel and takes up about a quarter of the space, presenting a harmonized, single-controller solution where all the power modules work in a unified and coordinated manner.
