Bifacial and Coastal: NEUTRON Protection Scope at the Al Dhafra 2 GW Plant

1. Bifacial strings and coastal air

The Al Dhafra solar plant near Abu Dhabi reaches about 2 GW and uses a very large count of bifacial panels. A coastal Emirati site adds humidity and salt mist to the protection problem. Bifacial modules raise the rear-side gain, so string short-circuit current is higher than a mono-facial assumption. At the same time the coast adds salt mist and humidity that attack enclosures and change leakage behaviour.

2. Combiner and DC protection

• PV combiner boxes rated to 1500 V DC with gPV fuses sized to 1.25x the short-circuit current including rear-side gain.
• DC disconnect switches for safe isolation.
• Type 2 DC SPDs staged to the 1500 V envelope.

3. Corrosion-class enclosures

• Enclosures specified to a corrosion class for salt mist.
• Coated parts and sealed gaskets.
• Humidity-sealed cable entries.

4. Staged surge protection

NEUTRON applied a staged SPD scheme with a Type 2 DC SPD in each combiner and coordinated protection at the plant interface, reviewed against local lightning density and soil conditions.

5. Outcome

The coastal-rated, bifacial-aware protection scope gave the plant a durable foundation. The lesson is that rear-side gain must enter the fuse sizing and the coast must enter the enclosure choice.