Rooftop Photovoltaic System

1. Scope of Works:
The work covered by this specification includes furnishing, delivering, receiving at site, unloading,
storing, installing, testing, startup, commissioning, placing into operation including PV modules,
inverters, wiring, combiner box(es), mounting structure, monitoring system cabling, switching
devices and grounding for at least 50% of the roof area of the governmental, residential,
administration and commercial buildings located in the new capital.

PV system shall feed AC power into the main distribution panel of the building, when solar
energy is available and shall immediately disconnect from the grid upon loss of grid power.

Dust control materials must be applied to minimize soiling losses on PV system performance.
Use only dust control mixtures specifically designed for PV systems. Dust control materials
coating life shall be not less than 5 years. Contractor shall provide bird barriers (spikes) to
prevent birds from roosting on and soiling modules.

All equipment supplied shall function properly under site conditions, e.g. ambient temperature,
wind, humidity and seismic loads. The photovoltaic system shall include, but not limited to the
following:

A. Photvoltaic modules
B. Inverter(s)
C. Combiner box(es)
D. DC cables and raceways
E. Modules mounting system including supporting steel
F. Grounding system
G. Monitoring System

2. Codes and Standards:

The requirements of this specification are based on the conformance with the following codes
and standards. For codes and standards, refer to the applicable Contract Package Document,
section titled “Codes and Standards”.
IEC 60364 Protection for safety – Protection against voltage disturbances and
electromagnetic disturbances.
IEC 60898-2 Circuit breakers for the overcurrent protection for household and similar
installations- Part 2: Circuit-breakers for a.c. and d.c. operation.
IEC 61683 Photovoltaic systems – Power conditioners - Procedure for measuring efficiency.
IEC 617121 Susceptibility of a photovoltaic (PV) module to accidental impact damage
(resistance to impact test)
IEC 61724 Photovoltaic system performance monitoring- Guidelines for measurement,
data exchange and analysis.
IEC 61727 Photovoltaic (PV) systems – Characteristics of the utility interface
IEC 61730 Requirements for construction, testing and safety qualification.
IEC 61829 Crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) array – On-site measurement of I-V
characteristics.
IEC 62109-1 Safety of power convertors for use in photovoltaic power systems- Part 1:
General requirements
IEC 62109-2 Safety of power convertors for use in photovoltaic power systems- Part 2:
Particular requirements for inverters.
IEC 62446 Grid connected photovoltaic systems – Minimum requirements for system
documentation, commissioning tests and inspection.
IEC 60228 Conductors of Insulated Cables.
IEC 60332 Tests on electric and optical fiber cables under the conditions.
NEMA AB-1 Molded Case Circuit Breakers and Molded Case Switches.
ASTM E1036 Standard Test Methods for electrical Performance of non-concentrator
Terrestrial Photovoltaic Modules and Arrays Using Reference Cells.
ASTM E 1799 Standard Practice for Visual Inspections of Photovoltaic Modules
ASTM E 1802 Standard Test Methods for Wet Insulations Integrity Testing of Photovoltaic
Modules.
ASTM E 1830 Standard Test Methods for Determining Mechanical Integrity of Photovoltaic
Modules.
ASTM E 2047 Standard Test Methods for Wet Insulation Integrity Testing of Photovoltaic
Arrays.
UL 1741 Instrument Inverters, Converters, Controllers and Interconnection System
Equipment for Use with Distributed Energy Resources.
UL 1703 Flat-Plate Photovoltaic Modules and Panels.
UL 2703 Mounting Systems, Mounting Devices, Clamping/Retention Devices, and Ground
Lugs for Use with Flat-Plate Photovoltaic Modules and Panels
NFPA 70 National Electrical Codes.
3. Technical Requirements:

a. PV Modules:

All Supplied PV modules shall at least meet the following requirements:

i. Modules shall be of polycrystalline technology with 250 Wp capacity at STC.

ii. PV modules shall be listed by Underwriter’s laboratories (UL), or another recognized
Laboratory.
iii. All modules must comply with IEX 61215, 61730 or equivalent.
iv. Modules shall be new, undamaged, fully warranted without defect.
v. Modules shall have minimum maintenance requirements, high reliability, have
minimum of 25 year design life, and be designed for normal and unattended operation.
vi. The PV modules shall be equipped with the bypass diode to minimize power drop snd
local hot spot caused by shade.
vii. The PV modules shall be made of light weight cells, resistant to abrasion, hail impact,
rain, water and environmental pollution.
viii. The PV modules shall be provided with anti-reflection coating and back surface field
(BSF) structure to increase conversion efficiency.
ix. The PV module shall use lead wire with the weatherproof connector for output
terminal.

b. Inverters:

The inverter should always give preference to the solar power and will use Grid/DG power only
when the solar power is insufficient to meet the load requirement.

All Supplied PV Inverters shall at least meet the following requirements:

i. Inverters shall be UL 1741, IEC 62093, IEC 62109-1,2 and IEEE 1547 compliant.
ii. Inverters must automatically reset and resume normal operation after a power limiting
operation.
iii. The inverter shall be capable of continuous operation into a system with voltage
variation of ± 10% of nominal voltage.
iv. Inverters shall include all necessary self-protective features and self-diagnostic features
to protect the inverter from damage (in the event of component failure or from
parameters beyond normal operating range due to internal or external causes). The self-
protective features shall not allow the inverters to be operated in a manner which may
be unsafe or damaging.
v. Submit conversion efficiency date tested by international recognized testing laboratory,
the conversion efficiency data shall be from testing on a minimum of five samples; at
least 96% European efficiency is required.
vi. Submit a minimum 5-year warranty to protect against defects and undue degradation of
electrical generation output.
vii. The inverter shall block back-fed into the grid in case the generated energy from PV
exceeding the load requirement by throttling/curtailing the Inverter output.

In addition, the inverter shall be equipped with the following:

i. Input and output disconnecting means, including integrated circuit breakers.

ii. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT).
iii. Anti-islanding features.
iv. Communication interface as per RS-485 or equivalent.
v. Monitoring: Grid connected inverter display (LCD Monitor), most important inverter and
grid related parameters shall be available on LCD screen, Values like PV array power, AC
grid power; PV array current shall be available.
vi. Web based monitoring and Sub-array monitoring feature.
vii. Built-in cellular connectivity.

c. Combiner Boxes:

A DC combiner box (es) shall be used to combine the DC cables of the PV modules/arrays to
produce a single output that is then fed to the inverter.

Combiner box (es) shall comprise the following components and cable terminations:

i. Bus bars and terminals for combining the inputs.

ii. Cable glands for input and output cables.
iii. DC circuit breakers.
iv. DC surge protection device (SPD), class 2 as per IEC 60364-5-53.
v. Over current protection device (OCPD).
vi. Provision for opening for replacing the cables.

Combiner box(es) shall meet the National Electric Code (NEC) requirements for series fusing of
Photovoltaic (PV) modules and shall be UL listed or equivalent.

d. Cables and Raceways:

Contactor shall provide all cables and raceways required for connecting PV system components
(PV modules, combiner box(es), inverter(s) and monitoring system). Cables shall be primarily
designed for application in PV systems.

All Cables supplied must conform to the requirements of UL4703 or TuV standards for the use of
the Photovoltaic systems. All DC cables must be single core double insulated solar cable with a
voltage rating of 1000V. Multicore cables shall not be used.

Cable conductors shall be terminated with tinned copper end-ferrules to prevent fraying and
breaking of individual wire strands.

Cables and wires used for the interconnection of Pv modules shall be provided with solar PV
connectors (MC4) and couplers.

Cables shall be ozone resistant, flame retardant, UV resistant, halogen free, low smoke and low
toxicity of gasses with expected Life Time ≥ 25 years.

All cables and conduit pipes shall be clamped to the rooftop, walls and ceilings with thermo-
plastic clamps.

Cables and conduits that will be penetrating walls or ceilings shall be taken through a PVC pipe
sleeve.
e. Monitoring System:

Monitoring system shall provide access to operational and performance data of the PV system.

Monitoring system shall perform the following functions as a minimum:

i. Module-level performance monitoring.

ii. Fault detection and automatic alerts.
iii. The system shall track the generation against the usage.
iv. Communication interface shall be an integral part of monitoring system and shall be
suitable to be connected to ACUD.