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German Jordanian University
Supervisor: Exchange officer at GJU:
Mr. Roger Zetzmann Mrs. Stefanie Luniak
Team leader of the Control room Office for Industrial Links
r.zetzmann@skytron-energy.com Stefanie.luniak@gju.edu.jo
Date: Date:
Signature and stamp: Signature and stamp:

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Index
Preface: ........................................................................................................................................................................3
Company Address: .......................................................................................................................................................4
Overview about Skytron Energy: .................................................................................................................................5
Monitoring & Data Analysis: ........................................................................................................................................6
Module Performance...................................................................................................................................................7
String Level Degradation:.........................................................................................................................................7
Plant Performance: ..................................................................................................................................................7
How monitoring can improve effectiveness of predictive maintenance:............................................................8
O&M.............................................................................................................................................................................9
INTERNSHIP OBJECTVIES..............................................................................................................................................9
A typical working day:........................................................................................................................................10
The level of Mentoring:..............................................................................................................................................10
Typical working day & tasks in my internship at Skytron: .........................................................................................11
Control room team will informed detect and analyses all: ...................................................................................11
Programs & Software’s: .............................................................................................................................................14
1-PV_Guard............................................................................................................................................................14
2-CVIMManager.....................................................................................................................................................15
3-OTRS....................................................................................................................................................................15
4-Putty-tool............................................................................................................................................................16
Skytron System Components:....................................................................................................................................17
PV Guard®: .........................................................................................................................................................17
Sky-control: ........................................................................................................................................................17
Sky Log................................................................................................................................................................18
Array Guard........................................................................................................................................................19
Product Features.................................................................................................................................................19
Sky Conni-Sun.....................................................................................................................................................20
Opinion:......................................................................................................................................................................21
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE INTERNSHIP COMPANY ...........................................................................................22

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Preface:
Currently I'm completing a Bachelor's degree in Energy Engineering
and at BTU Cottbus I'm a 4th year student at German-Jordanian
University.
Therefore I have to conduct a 6 months internship in Deutschland.
The reason I choose to do my internship abroad not only because of
the University Requirements. I wanted also to benefit from the
experience which I gain during the internship with Skytron family.
I did my Internship in Jordan with one of the Leading Companies in
the Photovoltaic world; I did the Internship with Second Energy.
Therefore I wanted to do my internship abroad to gain more
experience in the international Photovoltaic market, to learn more and
also to improve more sets of skills.
I was assigned to the Operation and maintenance department,
Operations department, as a software development engineer and this
helped me interact with different people, clients and this helped me
acquire information and gain different benefits. I gained knowledge
on how to control errors, Alerts and alarms of large scale PV power
plants. In conclusion, this was an opportunity to develop and enhance
skills and competencies in my career field which I actually achieved.
In this report I will describe my experiences which I gain during my
internship period. The internship report contains an overview about
the internship company and the activities, tasks and projects that I
have worked on during my internship. I also will describe and reflect
my learning objects and personal goals that I have set during my
internship period.

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Company Address:
skytron® energy GmbH / Ernst-Augustin-Straße 15
12489 Berlin / Germany / T +49 30 338 430 0 / F +49 30 338 430 99
Sitz Berlin / Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg / HRB 163298B / DE 295 424 299
Figure 1:Adlershof
Adlershof:
On the southwestern side of Adlershof now is built the new City of Science, Technology and Media (WISTA).
The local management seeks to establish the word "Adlershof" as a synonym for WISTA, ignoring the
traditional center of Adlershof.
A part of the area known today as the "City of Science, Technology and Media", was once known as
the Johannisthal Air Field. Germany's first motorized aircraft took off from here at the beginning of the 20th

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century.Albatros, Fokker, Rumpler and Wright made Adlershof-Johannisthal famous. In 1912 the German
Experimental Institute for Aviation (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt – DVL) made Adlershof its
headquarters. Laboratories, motor test beds, wind tunnels and hangars were erected in the 20s and 30s and
are historical landmarks today.
*For this opportunity I want to thank Skytron team in general and special thanks for the people
which I directly deal with them and I asked them a lot of questions during my internship period, all
the team was really helpful and friendly colleagues:
1- I will start from the internship Interview: I did a lot of interviews in my life in big
and small companies. My experience with TEL Interview was the best experience
ever in my life, the easiest and the most comfortable interview I did in my life. So I
want here to thank in the first place the most humble, friendly Manager – Leader I
ever met in my life: Mr. Hendrik Hoffmann Director Software, Service and O&M.
I want to thank also Mr. Christoph Neufink my supervisor in the Service
department for his efforts and questions during my Interview.
2- My first steps in the company were in Control room (operation center). As an
Energy student this department was giving me the ability to learn more about
controlling large scale power plants, which is completely new interesting field of
work for me. During my internship I was blessed to work with an incredible
helpful cooperative team, I would like to take opportunity to thank each and every
one of them. MR. Roger Zetzmann, MR. Benjamin Winkler, MR. Adonis El Hajj,
Who always had the inquiry to support me and help me under any situation.
3- Last but not least I would like to thank my colleagues in the Back office, MR.
Lukas Hüffmeier, MR. Felix Noack.
Who always answered tons of questions and solved a lot of problems for me and my
team in the control room.
Overview about Skytron Energy:
The merger of skytron®
energy with Wuseltronik, a 1977 spin-off of Berlin Technical University, has
evolved into three decades of unique expertise in the use of solar energy. It's not without reason
that we pride ourselves in being "pioneers of energy".
Pioneering spirit, continuity and long-standing experience, all combined with our vision for
trendsetting power plant technology – this was and is our motivating force and has driven the
development of our integrated monitoring and control system for photovoltaic power plants.
To date, more than 5 GWp of solar power generation installed worldwide relies on our monitoring
and control solutions.

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Figure 2: Skytron history
Monitoring & Data Analysis:
6 GWp worldwide relies on skytron® energy
CANADA
116.3 MWp UNITED KINGDOM
391 MWp
FRANCE
371.6 MWp
SPAIN
82.7 MWp
ITALY
310 MWp
SLOVAKIA
2 MWp
GREECE
8.1 MWp
UKRAINE
759.7 MWp
CZECH REPUBLIC
71.1 MWp
GERMANY
2 770 MWp
BELGIUM
11.9 MWp
THAILAND
18.1 MWp
BULGARIA
8.2 MWp
TONGA
1 MWpCHILE
32.3 MWp
QATAR
0.7 MWp
ROMANIA
171.6 MWp
MALAYSIA
5.4 MWp
KUWAIT
0.117 MWp
AUSTRALIA
0.13 MWp
URUGUAY
1.8 MWp
SAUDI ARABIA
0.15 MWp
MAURITIUS
15 MWp
USA
500 MWp
INDIA
307 MWp
RUSSIA
1 MWp
ISRAEL
5 MWp
BELARUS
3.8 MWp
JAPAN
5.4 MWp
JORDANIA
1 MWp
Figure 3: Skytron Project around the world

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Untapped opportunities for learning from long term data
Module Performance
String Level Degradation:
› Self-learning algorithm
› Initial Degradation Ratio
› Annual Rate of Degradation
› Rising accuracy: 99,5% after 12 month
› Nameplate Power Tolerance
Figure 4: Power Plant Performance Figure 5: Efficiency tolerance
Plant Performance:
› Inverter Power Losses
› Plant Power Curtailments
› Balance Of System Efficiency
› Effective Availability

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Figure 6 :E𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦
How monitoring can improve effectiveness of predictive maintenance:
Fans (inverter or statcom stations, or housing for onsite controller)
› Operating hours counter
Set an alarm for max. hours and exchange the part just in time
Inverter
› Failures in MPP Tracking
› PR deviation
Transformer
› Temperature & Pressure
Shunt reactor
› Set counter and alarm for switching operations

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O&M
› The monitoring system should be chosen by investor or O&M operator & not
by the EPC.
› Long term contracts (e.g. inverter service, monitoring) should be made
directly between SPV and supplier.
› If a park is built with low-budget components, an advanced monitoring
system is needed.
› It is possible to give an availability guaranty even as a 3rd party O&M
without uncontrollable risk for the O&M and transparency for the investor
INTERNSHIP OBJECTVIES
1- The reason I choose to do my internship in such an international company like Skytron is
because I wanted to benefit from the experience. I wanted a new challenge and to learn,
improve and develop my skills Regarding PV power plants in general and to learn more
about the inverters, Inverters types and capacities, Measurements, Installation, Maintenance.
One of the main components also the Combiner box’s and the string guards, Of course not to forget about the
PV modules and the transformers, All of these components mentioned above I have been given the privilege to
control and report their failures and their maintenance on a daily basis.
2- Learn new skills which will help me to understand the Logistics Industry from
different points in different countries , also my goal was to develop my skills which I
gained and improved it in different time periods during my Academic and my field
experience.
3- Get Constructive Feedback about my performance and how I worked on myself to
improve my experience in my major and even in my personal life skills. Take in
Comments, Suggestion, recommendations and critiques and learn as much as I can,

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from each one in the company, and this will help me to improve myself and to be more
professional and also it will increase my performance now and also in the future.
4- Make new Contacts one of the main reason for my internship, it’s the most important place to
start building a professional network, and to know how the people from different cultures
think and react, from my experience in Skytron and also before that according to my
experience in Second Energy, the Best way to make and create new contacts is to be always
honest and to deal seriously with all kinds of tasks no Matter how easy or hard was it you
have to take it serious. And in the first weeks from my internship I was focusing to know the
people in my team more and more and to learn how they think and how they work under
pressure it’s good to understand the people which I will work with them in the future and I
will deal with them everyone with his-her Level.
A typical working day:
The German Working Time Regulations (“Arbeitszeitgesetz”) regulate working hours on a
legal basis. They are based on the European regulation 93/104/EG. In
The level of Mentoring:
The level of support by Skytron was outstanding. They gave me interesting tasks, they asked
me always for my opinion, and we exchanged ideas and discussed matters not only about
technical related issues but also about private matters on a regular basis. I learned a lot from
them because, though I worked independently, I always got support from my colleagues as
well as from my supervisor when needed. Moreover, I could be creative which motivated to
work hard, too. If problems in my work occur, all colleagues are very helpful. It is worth
mentioning that my relations to colleagues and superiors were always very friendly and
helpful. The atmosphere in my department was very good. I was able to work together with
very friendly colleagues which also helped the fun factor to be high besides the work. I had
the chance to gain a lot of fruitful experiences from their way of solving the problems. One
has to get used to the “Berliner” pronunciation of the German language, as they sometimes
talk very fast and produce sounds differently in their accent. But it is only a matter of time
and one get used to their accent and they were very helpful when I did not understand
something, they had repeated it with standard German. In general, there is a very friendly

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tone of communication among the colleagues and the team was very pleasant and helpful.
They made me feel like an employee at my country.
Typical working day & tasks in my internship at Skytron:
I. Plant data storage and maintenance throughout the entire service life of the plant
II. Continuous condition monitoring of all power plant components
III. Detection and evaluation of reverse string currents
IV. Detection of inverter failure and reduced string yields
V. Immediate reaction to fault indications: notification of on-site service team
VI. Management and forwarding of diagnostics messages
VII. Remote service and maintenance of skytron components (e.g., firmware updates, ...)
VIII. Regular reporting according to customer specification
Figure 7: Control room
As being a part of the control room team my daily working day would consist on five main
factors
Control room team will informed detect and analyses all:
a. Errors
Error-Settings:
- Inverter state:

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- it‘s useful to enable the „inverter AC power output“ check. It rarely happens that an
inverters goes down w/o any entry in the fault trace. This check compares all
inverters with each other. If one inverter supplies more than XX % (adjustable) of his
nominal power and the checked inverter supplies no power an error occurs.
- String current deviation:
- should be divided for the stations with or w/o shading
- Min sun-elevation should be defined
- For the shaded stations a definition of the sun position is useful
b. Alerts
c. Alarms
and will inform the O&M operator within
• 2 hours in the case of an inverter or network malfunction or
• 6 hours in the case of a low priority faults
2. Control room hours are 7 days a week:
a. 9am to 5pm in Winter
b. 7am to 7pm in Summer
3. Documentation
All failures are recorded, documented and archived
4. Control room team will provide monthly / quarterly / annual reports
with the following analysis:
a- Performance ratio of plant and by inverter unit in per cent
b- Normalised yield of plant and by inverter unit in kWh/kWp
(incl. the normalised yield rate showing the relation between the generated
electricity and the nominal installed capacity
c- Comparison between yield and yield forecast in kWh/kWp
d- Yield losses of single units or the plant by the comparison between the
actual yield and the forecast yield calculated by interpolation of irradiation
and installed capacity. (e.g., due to component failures
or load reduction/management of the local utility company)
e- Comparison of plant performance to previous years
(with regard to yield, expected yield, ageing and other factors)
f- Fault documentation (listing of all faults and Downtimes)
g- List of service work performed (if provided by O&M operator)
h- Downtimes (output lost) Lost output determined by interpolating
radiation data with the PV system performance specifically possible
5. PV-Guard licence
The control room contract includes the software licence for our monitoring tool,
the PV-Guard

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Figure 8: operation center
Other asked tasks during my internship
Working on project with a physics professor in order to develop a Backup system for the
power plants we monitor or the power plants that is using our software PV- Guard, This
mission was completed within a 20 Working days. It was an eye opening project for me
because it made me realize the amount of importance for a Backup system in any power
plant in the world.
Figure 9: IB-Tool/Backup

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Also as Skytron being a part from the mother company First Solar, I had to complete
some of their online courses like
i. Working Ethics
ii. Scope of Authority
iii. Solar Fundamentals
To achieve a better and higher understanding of the company regulation and the
fundamentals of the Photovoltaic business not only in Germany but all over the worl
Programs & Software’s:
Some of the Programs and software’s that I have dealt with during my internship
1-PV_Guard
a- Efficient tool to remotely control and maintain PV power plants as well as to
remotely
Handle service activities
b- Reconfigurable views of the plant with different detail resolution
c- Automatic check for error conditions. The error conditions can be configured.
d- High data density (time resolution: 1 min) for exact error evaluation
e- Automatic email notification
f- Unified integration of solar plants: data of several PV power plants can be
compared.
g- Simple data export to MS Office applications
h- Zoom functions in views and diagrams
i- Min.-max. function for analysis, error log for error statistics and trouble shooting
Figure 10: PV Guard Presentation

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2-CVIMManager
CVIMManager is able to read all values from a CVIM device and configure all a device‘s
parameters
These are, for example:
• Communications parameters such as node addresses, Bit rate, etc.
• Module configuration
• Transmit flags
• Names such as module names, names of measurement values, etc.
• Parameters such as calibration values, measurement periods, etc.
Figure 11: CVIMManger
3-OTRS
OTRS Help Desk (OTRS) is a web application that is installed on a web server and can be
used with a web browser.
OTRS is separated into several components. The basic component is the OTRS framework
which contains all central functions for the application and the ticket system. Through the
web interface of the OTRS framework, it is possible to install additional applications such as
ITSM modules, integrations with Network Monitoring solutions, a knowledge base (FAQ), et
cetera.

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Figure 12: OTRS Tickets
4-Putty-tool
Putty-tool is private software Skytron uses to establish a direct connection with components on
site via satellite.
Figure 13: Putty-Tool

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Skytron System Components:
Figure 14: Skytron Components pyramid
PV Guard®: is our tool to help you with the remote monitoring and maintenance of your PV
system. Specially designed for PV plants in the megawatt range, PVGuard®
provides you with fast
access to the operating data you need.
With its graphic depiction of detailed status information - down to string level - and comprehensive
alarm management including automatic messaging, PVGuard®
provides you with the information
and incident control mechanism you need to effectively supervise your plants.
Sky-control: sky-control is an integrated system for PV power plant control and grid stability
management. It meets grid operators' requirements for utility-scale PV installations to ensure
controlled grid injection, both at the medium and high voltage level, and can be flexibly adjusted to
comply with different regional and international grid codes.

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Its unique feature, the genuine closed-loop control principle, ensures high-precision measurement of
all relevant physical quantities at the grid connection point and their continuous feedback to the
controller input. Combined with adaptable control algorithms and communication sequences, this
Closed control loop makes sky control a highly efficient tool for fast and stable power plant control,
even in large scale and distributed PV installations comprising several independent PV sections.
Figure 15: Sky Control cabinet
Sky Log: skylog®
has been designed for data logging in large-scale photovoltaic power plants.
Just like any other member of the skylog®
data logger series, skylog®
records all measurement
values collected in the plant, and can be employed in conjunction with almost any inverter type
offered in today's solar market.The compiled and continuously updated database can be accessed
on site, using a standard USB computer interface, or passed on to a third-party evaluation platform
using a router.

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Figure 16: Sky log cabinet
Array Guard: n its design the ArrayGuard®
FHis identical to our ArrayGuard®
- however the FH
model provides additional protection of every individual PV generator string. Up to 24 strings can be
protected on positive, or on positive and negative poles.
Product Features
 Combines up to 24 PV generator strings
 Detects failures and decreased yields early
 Several strings connected to one measurement channel
 Highly precise and widely temperature independent values acquired
by Shunt measurement:
o string currents (eight measurement channels)
o system voltage
o internal cabinet temperature
 Data transfer to local data logger via CAN fieldbus
 Fuses on each single PV string
 Options of fuse protection:
o String fuses on PV+(typeP) or
o String fuses on PV+ and PV- (typePM)
 Fuse holders for easy-to-handle fuse replacement
 Connection of PV string cables by push-in-type through terminals
 DC main cable screw connection, no cable lug required
 Integrated DC overvoltage protector with monitored status signalling contact
 Integrated DC main switch with monitored status signalling contact
 No external power supply required, power is supplied through the data bus
 Reliable throughout a long outdoor lifetime

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Figure 17: Array Guard cabinet
Sky Conni-Sun: Our universal system for the measurement of ambient conditions. skyCONNi-Sun
is capable of integrating a number of different weather sensors into the plant communication
network. The basic system offers integrated ambient and module temperature sensors as well as
two interfaces for the connection of irradiation sensors, be it pyranometers or reference cells.
A compact weather station providing information about wind, precipi- tation and humidity conditions
can also be connected. The skyCONNi- Sun cabinet is of robust design and suitable for outdoor
installation.
Figure 18: Sky Conni-Sun

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Opinion:
An internship is an opportunity to get hands-on experience with an employer in my
professional field of interest. Internships are typically completed as part of college
coursework. While my university has specific requirements for what we should experience
during the intern process, we can establish our own personal and professional objectives for
what we want to take away from the experience. Internships should be considered for
anyone who wants more experience in an area that interests them. The knowledge that I
personally gained from my internship has been very valuable, and I will be able to use the
experiences that I had throughout my career and life. I really appreciate that I was given the
autonomy to be creative, and to make decisions. My Internship supervisor provided me with
this autonomy.
The one thing that anyone can do before they go into their internship is to go into the
experience with an open mind, and be willing to have new experiences. Working in PV
companies is really about thinking outside of the box, and being willing to try something
different. My last recommendation for anyone doing in an internship is to make sure that
you put in as much as you can into the internship. The more you put in the more you will get
out of the experience. I have really enjoyed my internship experience. The goals that I set for
this experience, I was able to reach. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I gained
personally from this experience. I had a great site supervisor that made my internship
experience better than I could have imagined. Since completing my hours I now feel
confident in my abilities to work in the college union no matter what area that I end up in.

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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE INTERNSHIP COMPANY
Skytron is a great learning company for interns. Skytron is a big company and helps interns
to improve and develop their skills. I would recommend Skytron to keep hiring interns with
different educational background, to help build and improve the company with the
knowledge which they will gain from the students. Actually, it was a great pleasure to me
that I have met such a great and nice friends like them, they were very helpful and I have
never felt homesickness there, because really they were like my family. I will always
appreciate these moments and the chance that let me knew these great friends. And sure I
highly recommend other GJU students to apply for working at Skytron Energy.