Power line carrier communication (PLCC) is a communication mode in which data and

media signals are transmitted over power cables. With this technology, original signals are
modulated into high-frequency signals and loaded to power cables for transmission. The receiver
extracts the high-frequency signals using a filter and then demodulates the signals to obtain
original signals. Information is transferred in this manner.
The following figure shows the typical PLCC networking scenario.

The following table compares PLCC and the traditional RS485 communication mode:

Item PLCC RS485

Transmissi
115.2 kbit/s 9600 bit/s, 19.2 kbit/s in maximum
on rate
High: The security and reliability of data
Transmissi transmission are ensured by various Low: Only the application layer can
on means such as denoising, error perform some simple data verification,
reliability correction, data encryption, and data such as timeout retransmission.
backup/retransmission.
 A dedicated RS485 communications
cable is required.
Digging is required, and the cable
Communication is conducted through an routing should meet technical
AC power cable. requirements. Otherwise, the
Constructi
The communication will not be communication quality will be affected.
on and
interrupted as long as the power cable is Cable connection is an error-prone
line
connected. project.
reliability
There is no need of an RS485 cable and Any break in connection affects
related construction. communication.
The communication reliability is low in
actual engineering, and communication
is often interrupted.

Poor maintainability: Faults are hard to

Maintaina Good maintainability: Faults are easy to locate and rectify. If the cable is broken,
bility locate and rectify. you need to dig again and replace the
cable.

Cable fee 0 About Rs. 1lakh (a 4 MW block)

Compared with RS485, PLCC has obvious advantages in PV plant O&M. The writer visited
several typical PV plants in India and found that most PV plants have the following problems: No
monitoring system, no SCB-string combiner box, unknown and uncontrollable plant operating
status, poor communication reliability, and PV string faults hard to identify. If the faults persist,
huge energy yield loss will be caused, and more loss will be brought if an accident happens.
 A common RS485 communication monitoring page in Indian PV plants

RS485 communication has various disadvantages like complex construction, easy to break,
and complicated commissioning

Many practical problems will be encountered during the process of constructing an RS485
communications cable project, for example, the RS485 cable is incorrectly connected to the
combiner box by unprofessional construction personnel, a routed cable is damaged in digging, or
the communications module in the combiner box is faulty.

Plant staff said: "Generally, after RS485 cables are routed, a few numbers of people will be
left to maintain the cable route. Once an RS485 cable encounters a fault, we have to open the ditch
again to locate the fault, which consumes a lot of manpower. Additionally, new potential troubles
may be posed due to unprofessional construction personnel. Sometimes a new cable is routed
because the fault fails to be identified." Many PV plants that use RS485 communication cables
experience the problems of cable damage and communication interruption. Once the
communication fails, the entire PV plant cannot be monitored, and the system operating efficiency
is seriously affected. This results in a terrible waste of human and material resources.

PLCC is preferred because of simple construction, easy commissioning, and no risks

As for the PLCC mode, a site engineer likes its high efficiency very much, "During the
process of connecting a PV plant to a power grid, PLCC commissioning is very easy, and the
commissioning speed is 10 times the RS485 communication mode. In addition, we do not have to
dig a ditch to bury cables, which greatly reduces the construction workload and saves many
human, money, and material resources."
PLCC construction is easy and convenient. Without the need of routing RS485 cables, the
construction difficulty is decreased, the plant construction cost is reduced, and the risk of cable
damage caused by subsidence is avoided. Therefore, fewer problems of information loss are
encountered, and reliability of the transmission system is improved.
 What is more, the traditional RS485 communications cable is prone to be connected
incorrectly, and a broken connection affects part of the communication. If a cable is broken, you
need to dig it out and replace it. That is why PLCC is introduced to replace the traditional RS485
communication mode. Using an AC power cable as the communication channel, you do not have
to route extra cables or bury cables. Using the PLCC technology will kill three birds with one
stone. To be specific, not only the expenses on communications cables and construction are
reduced, the construction difficulty is decreased, but also the project period is shortened.

Stable and reliable PLCC technology promotes site monitoring

According to the energy plan announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the
installed capacity in India will reach 100 GW in 2020. With the sharp increase of PV plant
installed capacity, the plant O&M management becomes increasingly important.
Advantages of the traditional standalone O&M mode are emerging. Huge benefits are hard to
obtain because the cost is proportional to the plant scale. The reported energy yield data is
unstable because some information is missing or the communication is interrupted but the
management lags behind. All plant data and operating data of the group is not shared, so it is
difficult to develop data accumulation and analysis, and no forward-looking help can be given to
the long-term development of the group.
As a global-leading ICT vendor, Huawei is the first one to converge the digital information
and Internet technologies accumulated for 20 years with the PV technology to promote the
FusionSolar Smart PV Solution, which is used to build smart PV plants and significantly increase
the energy yield as well as the operating and management efficiency of PV plants.
Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV Solution is an end-to-end integrated solution that treats PV
strings as the basic management units, which makes a PV plant intelligent and digital. A digital PV
plant is the basis of big data analysis and intelligent O&M. Huawei FusionSolar Smart PV
Solution makes PV strings as basic units and enables the entire PV plant to be digital. All
attributes, status, and historical operations, physical locations, and logical positions of all PV
strings and devices are visible and manageable in the management system. The PLCC technology
helps transmit data stably and efficiently to realize refined operation. This not only reduces O&M
costs, but also increases the energy yield and the plant return on investment (ROI). In
addition, with the help of high-precision and high-reliability data collection and big data mining, a
PV plant truly operates in intelligent mode.
The FusionSolar Smart PV Solution not only improves the energy yield by at least 5% and
the internal rate of return (IRR) by 2.75%, but also enables the monitoring precision to reach
0.5 ‰, six times the precision of other monitoring systems. As the RS485 transmission mode is
replaced by PLCC mode, data transmission reliability is improved and the O&M efficiency is
increased by 50%.
The FusionSolar Smart PV Solution uses high-precision sensors, so that all devices in the
PV plant are intelligent, including each PV string. In this manner, the intelligent O&M
management system can monitor the running status of each PV string and show you a complete
digital PV plant. Every component of the PV plant can be managed and monitored. A fault can be
precisely located once it is detected, which reduces the fault identification time. A fault can also be
immediately rectified to reduce the energy yield loss.
As a capital-intensive project, a PV plant needs to operate in stable and efficient mode all the
time and generate more economic benefits during the 25-year life cycle. Therefore, the subsequent
O&M is critical. If maintenance is conducted after problems emerge, obviously energy yield
benefits are affected. Active O&M and continuously optimized plant solutions are the inevitable
choice for sustainable development.