Power Devices - SiC & IGBT from ROHM Can Reduce the Cost of Renewable Energy

ROHM Semiconductor India Pvt Ltd (RSI) a subsidiary of ROHM Co. Ltd., Kyoto, has recently announced an array of power solutions like SiC, IGBT, and gate drivers, for improving the power conversion efficiency. These products are intended to meet the harsh condition of India’s rapidly growing power infrastructure.

“Quality is our top priority at all times” said Daisuke Nakamura, Managing Director of Rohm Semiconductor India Pvt. Ltd. “It is our company mission which we have maintained since its establishment in 1958. It is same in India business, too.  We always offer the high quality and reliable solutions and by that, we also would like to be the best partner of Indian customers. Silicon Carbide power devices with trench structure that leverage industry-leading technology is a product which will be able to contribute ‘affordable renewable energy’. It would help not only the improvement of energy conversion but also the implementation of smaller and stronger in renewable energy application like a solar inverter or high input voltage power supply.”

The population increase due to urbanization, growing manufacturing Industries, India will face a chronic power shortage. Rural electrification is also attained high priority. This has driven the demand for solutions that can provide a stable and distributed energy with minimal resource utilization. This has increased the demand for power plants based on renewable energy like solar, wind energy, besides other not so popular biomass, tidal etc. According to the National Electricity Plan drafted by the Central Electric Authority, the country will see a rapid increase in non-fossil fuels based renewable energy, like nuclear or hydro-electric power to 56.5% by 2027. This will serve to decrease the country’s reliance on fossil fuels while establishing renewable energy as a viable new source for the future, while clamping on the trade deficit owing to the import of oil and coal.

RSI, working on the Gandhian principle of “more from less, for more” to make the energy affordable to masses. It is working towards maximizing the energy harvested by controlling the power loss during all the power stages of conversion like conditioning, inversion etc. This is towards creating more from less, i.e., effective utilization of renewable energy. For example, as much as 30% of the electric energy is lost in the process of generation, transmission and distribution. This loss along with the loses in power conversion is believed to exceed 35%. In response, RSI proposes power solutions centered on cutting-edge SiC power devices that achieve higher efficiency in the power conversion. The trench SiC-based inverters can reduce power loss by as much as ~2% compared to the conventional devices like IGBT, Si MOSFET etc., while contributing towards miniaturization owing to reduced heat dissipation.

The improvement in size and efficiency owing to the adoption of the power solutions from RSI, like gate drivers, trench SiC MOSFETs, and IGBTs, play a vital role in enabling small scale and distributed power plants for tapping solar and wind energy. A ~2% increase in efficiency along with the reduced cooling requirements can bring in a considerable cost saving for the end customers, besides improving the reliability of the power converters. This will help bridge the demand supply gap, which is “more from less, for more”, thus reaching more people. The distributed power generation, besides reducing a huge burden on our grid, reduces the transmission and distribution losses.

Quick local support for designing systems using technologies is available from experienced Application Engineering team in Bangalore. RSI’s sales & marketing teams in New Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai work closely with customers to ensure support in adopting these products and reap the rich benefits.