Vietnam, the hottest PV solar market in Southeast Asia of 2019, has achieved more than 5.5 GW total installation by end of October and targets another 3 GW of 2020. According to Vietnam Electricity Corporation (EVN), there will be no more Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) for ground-moounted solar in coming 2020, however commercial and industrial (C&I) PV will still be supported by FIT with incentives.

Among all these over 800 PV projects finished in 2019, Talesun, a China based leading cell and module maker, has finished its first special C&I project in Ho Chi Ming city which as a business milestone of the company.

Compared with previous large-scale deliveries in PV solar projects with dozens or hundreds of MW sizes, this distributed rooftop plant is with only 570 KW but it was the very first time in Vietnam for Talesun to take the role of Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) of an entire project and “delivered more value to customer”, according to Dene, the project manager of this project from Talesun.

It is comparatively simpler and more straightforward to be the just role of panel vendor in a PV solar project. However, Talesun believes it can make Talesun more competitive and valuable by bringing a full package solution which includes funding, development and EPC to the client.

Taking the Vietnamese project as an example. The whole project was processed by an experienced project team. With deep studying of local weather conditions, state of art engineering design based on the realistic roof and installation circumstance, carefully selected components, fast and efficient project execution and strict quality management, life time O&M service, the project was finished in short time and highly praised by both of the investor and owner.

To guarantee the yield prediction of the solar plant to be more precise, Talesun has chosen the Meteonorm database, which contains a total of 8,325 weather stations worldwide for global climatology of insolation, radiation and meteorology data, as its fundamental mathematical model of weather data for solar project design and analysis.

Especially for Southeast Asia market which with hot and humid climatic conditions, Talesun uses Huawei’s string inverter for local projects. Benefit from Huawei’s advanced technology, excellent product quality, and well-developed after-sales service distributions in Southeast Asia market, the inverters were highly accepted by local customers. By utilizing string inverter, the mismatch of the panels on the rooftop mounting is reduced. Related components will cost less and the Balance of System (BOS) will be effectively reduced.

Talesun treats the panel racks as essential consideration and makes lots of research refer to local installation conditions. The component of racks usually is either aluminum alloy or carbon steel with hot galvanized. However, the thicknesses of both the rack part and covering zinc layer are critical for the safety and durability of the structure in the service life, and highly related to cost as well. Talesun chooses the best fit racks with the most appropriate thickness of both main component and zinc layer to fulfill the cost-control requirement for better ROI.

By utilizing professional industrial design software, PVsyst, and also data source from Meteonorm database, Talesun’s team revealed the best installation tilt for C&I solar project, which usually using fixed racks as supporter, in Vietnam, even with slight difference between north and south areas. Taking the best installation tilt as important reference and considering other influential factors, the PV panels are installed in a best designed position with most appropriate tilt for best performance and optimized yield.

There is no any carelessness when in selection of related electrical components, because Talesun knows very well that details make difference. Based on extensive experience in project development, designing, construction and management, Talesun cumulated cooperative partnerships with leading electrical enterprises such as ABB, Schneider, Mitsubishi and etc. And only those electric components from these leading brands meet strict specifications and qualifications of Talesun on its PV solar project, which aiming best performance with continuous and stable operation under extreme working conditions of high temperature, high humidity and pollutions.

Benefit from feedback and analysis of PV panels operated in GW level, Talesun obtains plenty of experience of trouble shooting of operating panels and comprehensive debugging capability of operation and maintenance (O&M) platform. The project team uses the trouble shooting and debugging not only in the installation process, but also in consecutive daily operation by transferring the experience to customers.

Talesun has learned and cumulated plenty of project management experience, especially in C&I sector. From the early survey stage, Talesun cooperate with local partners for concept designs of PV solar for subsequent building construction to reduce cost and improve convenience and efficiency of afterward solar construction. Construction plans in different weather conditions are made for preparations. Temporary needs of customers are fully considered for fulfillment. Health Safety, and Environment friendly (HSE) are first priority and highly guaranteed.

The daily operation and maintenance of solar plant will be on a universal platform developed by Talesun via 4G network. Customer can access and check all the operation information via an APP installed on cell phone easily in real time.

A strong and complete supply chain of PV panels and all related components will provide quick response to customers about the solar plant including construction, spare parts implement, and equipment trouble shooting and repairing with high quality and controlled cost.

Talesun is the one of the largest cell and solar panel manufacturer with production bases both in China and Thailand. In 2018, the company delivered over 3.2 GW modules to the world market and ranked No.10 among global major module makers, according to statistics of PV Infolink. The company will have total around 6 GW module manufacturing capacity by end of 2019.

Talesun now strategize to play a more comprehensive role in the industry and involve in projects at early funding and developing stage to provide client a turnkey solution. A functional department was established internally for the development and EPC business of Southeast Asia market including Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia with targeted pipeline of 500MW for C&I project in next 3 years.

With a plenty fund partners from Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong. Talesun is able to dive more deeply and to get more opportunities in the C&I segment. The project delivered in Vietnam is a small start, but it’s just a new beginning.