4 Product Description
SMA Solar Technology AG
14
REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16
User Manual
4 Product Description
4.1 Power Reducer Box
The Power Reducer Box is for PV plants that have to implement network operator setpoints for active
power limitation and reactive power operation under grid management. The network operator can
use the Power Reducer Box to temporarily and remotely limit the feed-in capacity of the PV plant in
the case of a grid overload. The Power Reducer Box translates the control commands of the network
operator and transmits them to the Sunny WebBox. The Sunny WebBox forwards the control
commands to the inverter.
The Power Reducer Box primarily performs the following tasks:
• Active power limitation and reactive power setpoint
• Recording all control commands of the network operator
• Control of up to 2,500 SMA inverters via Sunny WebBoxes
• Data transfer to the Sunny Portal Internet portal for visualisation and optimal notification to the
plant operator
Four digital states (e.g. a ripple control receiver) can be imported with the Power Reducer Box and
the inverters can be set according to the specifications of the network operator. The four inputs can
be freely configured via the integrated user interface on the Power Reducer Box. If a signal from the
ripple control receiver is present, the Power Reducer Box analyses the signal and relays an instruction
via the Ethernet network to the registered Sunny WebBoxes. The Sunny WebBoxes contacted transfer
the instruction to the connected inverters.
Events are recorded in the internal memory of the Power Reducer Box. It is also possible to save events
onto an SD card or to download events via the user interface.
The Power Reducer Box sends the event data to the Sunny Portal. The Sunny Portal can display the
sent data and inform the user of this by e-mail in the event of applied power limitations.
The Power Reducer Box can automatically update its firmware via the SMA Update-Portal if a new
update is available. For this purpose, the Power Reducer Box must have an Internet connection.
