Solar and EV Charger Commissioning Simulator, Free Online

Commissioning is an order of steps

Rooftop solar and EV chargers are growing across Indian cities, and the people who install them need a skill that is rarely taught in a classroom: commissioning. That means bringing a finished system into service in a safe order, with the tests recorded. The Solar and EV lab in the EDWartens Lab lets you practise that order on a 3D site.

The video above walks the site. A building with a roof array, a plant room, an inverter, a battery, a board, and a car park with chargers.

The site you walk around

You can switch labels on, jump to the roof array, the plant room, the inverter, the battery, the board, the car park or the chargers, or find a part by name. A time of day slider changes the light from noon to evening, so you see how the site looks at different hours.

The commissioning checklist

The checklist opens with the steps that come before any switching. Read the permit, wear your PPE and check that every isolator is open. Inspect the modules, cables, glands and labels. Test earth continuity and insulation resistance. Then measure the open circuit voltage and polarity of every string, and sign off the string test.

A healthy string agrees with the others within a few per cent. A negative reading means the meter leads are reversed on that string.

Energise in the safe order

Then comes the energising. Close the PV DC isolator. Close the battery isolator and start the battery management system. Check the inverter, with DC in its window, grid sync and no alarms, and the battery link healthy. Test the loss of mains, since the inverter must stop within its limit. Finally energise the EV charger circuit and run one test session, then record the readings and hand over.

The lab tells you that every isolator is open at the start and that you must bring the system into service in a safe order. If you try a step too early, the lab refuses it and the acceptance test counts it against you.

Who will find it useful

Electrical students curious about renewable energy jobs, diploma holders thinking about a solar installer path, technicians who maintain buildings and may be asked about chargers, and engineers who want to see a full site before they bid on one. It is practice for the sequence and the reasoning. It does not replace the manufacturer's manual, your local utility rules or a qualified supervisor.

Commission a site

Start with the roof array, work through the checklist in order and see how many steps you can do without a refusal. Open the free Solar and EV lab in your browser.

It is free to start and nothing needs to be installed.

If you want to learn this alongside PLCs, SCADA and drives in a classroom, see our industrial automation course in Bangalore.