Berlin, Germany, November 6, 2013 - Skytron Energy, one of the world's leading developers of monitoring, control and supervision systems for renewable energy power plants, has been awarded a 50 MWp photovoltaic project by LSG Building Solutions, a major Romanian EPC company for utility-scale renewable energy projects.

Following on from two PV projects already completed by the Skytron Energy and LSG team - a 45 MWp plant and a 20 MWp plant, both in the Romanian Giurgiu district, the new 50 MWp project, scheduled for commissioning by the end of this year, will also meet the special requirements of the Romanian grid system. In particular, the requirement for power feed directed by local dispatchers and the need for frequency support by providing balancing power, are now mandatory in Romania, with retrospective effect.

These new Romanian requirements have been taken on by Skytron Energy in their Skycontrol power plant controller. For balancing power, the controller adapts the active power feed into the grid in response not only to changes in the grid frequency, but also with respect to the photovoltaic power the plant can generate at that instant. This requires calculating the available PV power on the basis of the plant status information provided by Skytron's real-time condition monitoring system. This frequency stabilization function is unique in that it has been implemented without the need for expensive energy storage facilities. This is a first for photovoltaic power generation.

In all three plants, the Skycontrol power plant controller provides closed-loop active and reactive power control. In addition, its control functions have been specially enhanced to allow external commands for power dispatching using the IEC 60870 telecontrol protocol. The power plants feed into Transelectrica's 110 kV high-voltage grid and communicate with the grid operator's own SCADA system.

A pivotal aspect of Skytron Energy's success lies in their flexibility to adapt their power plant controller to specific national grid requirements and integrate such complex control schemes with their comprehensive monitoring solution.

The challenging Romanian specifications for the construction of photovoltaic power plants could not have been met without a close working relationship between the two partners, Skytron Energy and LSG Buildings Solutions. "We are now realizing our third major project with Skytron Energy. Initial teething troubles were quickly solved by Skytron's dependable cooperation and willingness to provide all the support and training necessary. Skytron Energy were able to complete the final commissioning of 50 MWp, including the complex controllers, in just two days. All of this convinced us about Skytron's proficiency," confirms Gerhard Lipkovich, LSG's General Manager for Romania.