Development of a Microcomputer for the Control of a Photovoltaic Power Station

Summary

The 50RWp photovoltaic power station on Fota Island in Cork Harbour is designed to operate in a stand-alone mode, i.e. to supply electrical energy to the dairy farm independent of the utility grid. As well as operating independent of the utility grid the station must operate at its highest efficiency while ensuring that each unit in the station is protected from faults. To meet these requirements a microcomputer is used to control the station’s operations. The microcomputer consists of a MOTOROLA 6800 microprocessor system, computer terminal, printer and a magnetic tape recorder. As well as controlling the photovoltaic power station the microcomputer monitors and displays data on the printer, allows changes of operating parameters via computer terminal, stores desired data on magnetic tape and performs tests on hardware interface to the microprocessor.

The 24K of software for the microcomputer is stored in EPROMs and 8K of RAM is required for the system’s operations.

The microcomputer is an intelligent and flexible system. It has a quick fault debugging facility and keeps a permanent record of the photovoltaic power station’s operations. Such characteristics are required to determine the most efficient operation of a large photovoltaic power station.