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ABB central inverter solutions installed at the biggest photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Colombia


With a capacity of 9.8MW, Celsia Solar Yumbo, built by Celsia, an energy company of the Argos group, becomes Colombia’s largest PV power plant and the first to be connected to the national grid

ABB’s PVS800 central inverters are successfully feeding power to the National Interconnected System (SIN) of Colombia at the first megawatt-scale PV power plant in the country. The Celsia Solar Yumbo project, located in Valle de Cauca, Colombia, is the first PV power plant connected to the National Interconnected System. The project was constructed by Prodiel as an EPC and is operated by Celsia.

Celsia Solar Yumbo takes its name from the thermo-Yumbo power plant that previously occupied the site, replacing the coal-fired power plant with clean, sustainable solar energy. The new solar power plant has a capacity of 9.8 MW, with a projected generation of 16.5 GWh of clean energy a year.

ABB’s scope of supply comprised plug-and-play inverter and medium-voltage component stations for easy and rapid grid connection: five PVS800-MWS megawatt stations, containing a total of nine 1,000 kW PVS800-57 central inverters, five dry-type transformers, 36 kV ring main units (RMU) and auxiliary boards. The product scope was complemented with commissioning and training services on site.

“There is good potential in Colombia for solar power, and the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy has recently announced that the country’s first auction for large-scale solar, wind and biomass projects will be launched in spring 2018,” says William Alvarez, Marketing and Sales manager of Electrification Products at ABB Colombia.

“As a group, we expect more projects to come. With ABB’s plug-and-play inverter solution, based on reliable, high efficiency and easy-to-maintain inverters, backed up by ABB’s technical support capabilities, we offer customers a truly bankable solution for utility scale PV plants,” says Francisco Tapia, Strategic Account Manager for Celsia at ABB.

The ABB PVS800-MWS megawatt station, rated up to 2.4 MW is designed for multi-megawatt PV power plants. Depending on the size of the PV power plant, several ABB megawatt stations can be combined to meet the needed capacity. With a wide list of approvals and with advanced and flexible grid support functions, the megawatt station meets all the applicable network connection requirements, regardless of where the project is located. To help meet bankability requirements and secure the highest return on investment, ABB supports its customers with a dedicated global service network providing a complete range of life cycle services in more

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