Optimal Sizing of Solar Energy Transformers using
Natural Ester Fluid
David A. Trevas, Adam Peterson
Transformer Products
Cooper Power Systems
Waukesha, USA
http://www.cooperpower.com/solar/
Abstract— As a result of the increasing number of nation-states
that are adopting aggressive Renewable & Alternative Energy
Portfolios, the solar energy market is nearly doubling year over
year. With this aggressive growth comes even greater scrutiny
when sizing solar farms. There is often great incentive to get the
most utilization out of the equipment. An often over looked piece
of equipment on these farms is the liquid filled AC padmount
transformer. Given the green nature of the solar market, every
Cooper Power Systems Envirotran™ Solar transformer contains
the non-toxic, biodegradable Envirotemp™ FR3™ fluid, made
from renewable seed oils. Equal in importance to its
biodegradability, this natural ester fluid substantially extends the
life of the cellulosic insulation in the transformer, while allowing
periods of overloading of the transformer. The high fire point of
natural ester fluid provides a safer transformer for solar
applications compared to mineral oil, especially during periods of
high ambient temperature and unit overloading. This work
presents how using the inherent properties of natural ester fluid
in conjunction with defined inverter load profile and site
environmental conditions can help optimize transformers for
Solar PV applications.
Keywords- natural ester fluid, photovoltaic array, solar farm,
transformer
I. INTRODUCTION
Alternative energy sources from the sun, wind and water
are truly renewable and their adoption is accelerating globally.
Similarly, natural ester insulating fluids from vegetable and
seed oils are increasingly being specified as alternative fluids
for transformers. Merging of these “green” technologies has
accelerated to provide sources of power with improved safety
and environmental profiles. Natural esters are fire safe,
nontoxic and ‘readily biodegradable’ at higher levels than any
other known insulating fluid. Because growing plants
sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, natural esters
are essentially carbon neutral.
Solar energy systems are developed around inverters that
convert DC input from a photovoltaic array (PV) to provide
AC output voltage to a transformer. Inverter technology is
constantly improving around more advanced power
electronics, which has greatly increased capacity and system
cost. Developers of modern inverter systems place even more
emphasis on the fire resistance and safety of natural ester
fluids. Early adopters of solar energy systems specified
Kevin J. Rapp, John Luksich
Dielectric Fluids
Cooper Power Systems
Waukesha, USA
transformers that used conventional mineral oil refined from
crude petroleum. The added liability in the use of mineral oil,
as related to fire safety and environmental exposure, has made
natural ester fluid a better choice. As “green technologies have
accelerated in the 21st century, solar development specialists
have turned to natural ester fluid filled transformers to
improve safety and the environmental landscape.
While the solar energy environmental picture has become
brighter by using natural ester fluids, there is more technology
that they can provide. Optimal sizing of transformer designs
by engineering for cyclic loads and higher temperature
reduces material content. It allows the current supplies to be
consumed in expanded applications. The full sustainable
impact, however, is the reduction of exploring, obtaining, and
refining additional raw material used in the manufacturing of
transformers.
Natural ester fluid filled transformers can operate at a
higher temperature, meaning the design footprint can shrink.
Studies done around the globe indicate that cellulosic (paper
and pressboard) insulation in transformers will last many
times longer in natural ester fluids than in mineral oil at the
same temperature. Put another way, cellulose insulation in
natural ester fluid can operate 20°C higher than it can in
conventional mineral oil and still maintain equivalent life.
Chemical interactions of the natural ester fluid with the
cellulose insulation and water released from it during thermal
aging explain the enhanced insulation life. Transformer life is
dependent upon the life of the solid insulation used in the coil
windings and barrier structure.
As financial pressures continue to weigh on solar
developers domestically and abroad, many efforts are made to
utilize material and equipment more efficiently in PV solar
applications. In this paper, we will discuss the specifics of
how liquid filled transformers can be optimally sized with the
world’s leading natural ester Envirotemp™ FR3™ fluid for
PV solar applications. A PV solar development is shown in
Fig. 1 with examples of different inverter to transformer
connection methods. One or the other is used in a typical
development.
Within a PV solar development, inverters feed medium
voltage distribution transformers that are connected to
padmount switchgear before final connection to the grid

Figure 1. Typical PV Solar Development
through a power class transformer. Medium voltage
transformers for PV applications can be sized as either a 1:1 or
2:1 ratio. For example, the two inverters on the left of the
diagram are connected 1:1 from one inverter to one two-
winding transformer. The two inverters on the right are
connected 2:1 from two inverters to one three-winding
padmount transformer.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
An example PV solar development that uses two 800 kW
inverters connected to a 1600 kVA AC transformer was
chosen. While the 1600 kVA transformer size is mandatory
for maximum output, the inverters may only output 100%
current for 8 hours or less in a given day. ANSI standards are
based around the concept that transformers should be designed
for 100% loading, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While this
may be satisfactory for the majority of utility applications, it is
greatly over-specified for the typical PV solar load profile.
The use of natural ester fluid provides the required technology
to engineer and optimally size a transformer. A 1600 kVA
transformer designed for continuous 100% loading can be
optimized to a significantly smaller transformer footprint,
while maintaining 1600 kVA output capabilities, using the
inherent properties of the natural ester fluid.
A. Natural Ester Fluid
The advantage of natural ester fluids for high voltage
transformers is not related to any complexities in their
chemical formulation, but in their inherent functional
properties (e.g. chemical stability, electrical performance,
thermodynamic performance, material compatibility, and
ignition resistance) and their interactions with cellulosic
insulation structures while possessing improved environmental
and sustainable benefits [1-6]. The chosen natural ester fluid is
manufactured by Cooper Power Systems using food grade soy
oil and small amounts of additives that are required for long
term performance. The relative environmental performance
versus thermal class of natural ester fluid is compared to other
types of insulating fluids in Fig. 2.Natural ester insulating
fluids are increasingly specified within sustainable transformer
platforms based upon their improved insulation system aging
performance. This enables optimization of transformer loading
160
silicone
150
natural
Thermal Class (oC)
140 ester
130 synthetic
ester
120
110 mineral oil
100
50 40 30 20 10 0
Environmental Performance
Better
Figure 2. Environmental performance [7] versus insulating liquid thermal class
(equal to the maximum recommendable operating temperature expected to give
an acceptable lifetime of the liquid) [8]. Symbol diameter is proportional to
percent OECD 301 ready biodegradability.
which can be engineered into equipment designs and provides
smaller, more cost effective equipment with improved safety
profiles. The fire point of natural ester fluid is 360°C
compared to 175°C for conventional mineral oil, affording
better protection to all equipment in close proximity to the
transformer. Reduction in transformer size while maintaining
the same power output saves vital resources.
Industry-standard thermal evaluations and accelerated
aging studies show that the natural ester fluid/Kraft paper
insulation system ages at a considerably reduced rate
compared with conventional mineral oil/Kraft paper insulation
systems at the same temperature [2,5,6]. This is the result of
interaction between natural ester fluid and the water produced
during insulation aging. The water from paper degradation is
physically absorbed from the paper and chemically consumed
via hydrolysis [3,9]. Thus, the thermal performance of both
natural ester/Kraft and natural ester/thermally upgraded Kraft
(TUK) insulation systems enables extended (up to 8X)
insulation system life at the respective mineral oil design
temperatures and beyond.
The thermal capability of an insulation system is typically
represented by an aging curve, plotting relative aging rate
versus hottest spot temperature [10]. Fig. 3 compares the
mineral oil and natural ester fluid relative aging rates at
various temperatures. The shaded area in Fig. 3 allows for the
innovative approach taken to design and operate more
compact natural ester-filled transformers for the PV solar
market without compromising lifespan. International high
temperature transformer standards support this technology
[8,11].
B. PV Solar Transformer
When a transformer has a rated temperature at a given
power rating, this indicates that the insulation system will last
180,000 hours (~20½ years) if loaded continuously at that
power level. Transformers used in solar applications are
inherently loaded cyclically which suggests that sizing a
Figure 3. Relative aging rates of thermally upgraded paper in mineral oil [10]
and natural ester fluid. The shaded area represents the additional thermal
capability of the natural ester/thermally upgraded paper insulation system.
transformer as if it were continuously loaded at its maximum
power level leads to selecting overdesigned units. This work
shows a method for determining the appropriate size of a solar
transformer to find one with suitable life. Here, we are
concerned only with the life of the insulation system, because
this has typically been the limiting factor in the predicted life
of a transformer. Other factors like the shifts in operating costs
and the durability of other internal components subjected to
higher peak temperatures should be considered in a more
thorough analysis. Techniques developed here can be applied
to the more sophisticated analysis.
The method employed in this study for the determination
of predicted transformer life is found in Annex G [12].
Previous work used the simplified method described in Clause
7 of [12], even though it neglects the effects of temperature on
fluid viscosity and assumes that the ambient temperature is
constant. It has guidelines to allow some variation in ambient
temperature. Since we have detailed rheological data of the
fluids and hourly temperature data, we will use the more
rigorous and accurate method described in Annex G. The
technique developed here analyzes the data month-by-month.
The data for solar array output power and ambient
temperature for every hour of an entire year has been gathered
at a location of approximately 43-1/2° north latitude. The data
was normalized to set the peak power to 1600 kVA. For each
month, the day with the most total power production and the
day with the highest average ambient temperature were
selected to represent that month. Each month was modeled as
having the day with the maximum power production, as seen
in Fig. 4, and the warmest day of the month, as shown in Fig.
5, occurring every day (some months were omitted for clarity).
This is a conservative model of the operating conditions a unit
will likely encounter. However, it will be more accurate, but
less conservative than previous models that imposed a
constant high ambient temperature, for example.
A series of typical solar transformers were designed to
match the load. The parameters of a family of units ranging
from 800 to 1600 kVA, in 200 kVA steps, were calculated
using our design program. This program optimizes units on
Figure 4. Load profiles of most productive day by month
many various parameters, so the smaller units are not simply
scaled-down models of the original 1600 kVA version. For
example, the 1200 and 1400 kVA transformers have similar
tank sizes and fluid capacities. Each of these models was used
as input for the program and was run with mineral oil, as
specified in annex G of the standard, and again with natural
ester fluid, with properties already mentioned. The load
profiles in kVA were divided by the ratings to get the
dimensionless per-unit load (PUL) at each point in time. The
peak values ranged from 1.0 PUL for the 1600 kVA unit to 2.0
PUL for the 800 kVA transformer.
The accelerated aging factors were calculated using the
program and then summed by month and then by year. By
determining how many predicted life years were consumed
during a calendar year, it is a simple calculation to determine
how many calendar years it would take to age the insulation
system to the equivalent of one full lifetime of 20-1/2 years.
The key factor that provides natural ester fluid with the
advantage over mineral oil is that Kraft paper in natural ester
fluid has the same predicted life at a hottest-spot temperature
of 130°C that it does in mineral oil at 110°C, as seen in Fig. 3.
Using these facts, we plot the predicted life of a unit based on
30
Ambient Temperature ( C)
o
20
10 Jan Aug
Mar Oct
0
00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 24:00
Time of Day
Figure 5. Warmest days of example months

Figure 6. Predicted insulation life versus transformer rating
its size in Fig. 6 to demonstrate the significant improvement in
the efficiency of the natural ester fluid designs. The data for
creating this graph is given in Table 1.
We see in Fig. 6 and Table 1 that units designed for the
nominal 1600 kVA load would be so under-loaded most of
their lives that the aging rate of the insulation in either fluid
would be so slow as to be considered nonexistent. On the
other extreme, if one were to attempt to use a transformer with
half the rating, 800 kVA, the unit would operate at an
excessively high hottest-spot temperature during the peak
loads that it would fail in the first year.
At 1000 kVA, the difference between mineral oil and
natural ester fluid becomes apparent. A mineral oil
transformer routinely exposed to 1.6 PUL may be expected to
last about 4 years, but the same unit using natural ester fluid is
predicted to last over 36 years. While an acceptable life of 32
years is attained by a mineral oil unit at 1200 kVA, the same
unit filled with natural ester fluid would be expected to
operate for 277 years of life.
The curve in Fig. 6 is not smooth because each transformer
was independently optimized and the key parameters, such as
core/coil weight and fluid capacity, were not necessarily
proportional to the rated load capacity.
How long life can be achieved with a transformer that is
periodically overloaded is apparent in Fig. 7. This graph
shows the conditions in August, since they were considered
the most severe of the year. If the unit was continuously
subjected to loads exceeding 1.0 PUL and the ambient were
set at a high, constant value, the predicted life would be much
shorter than 20-1/2 years. Because this application involves
TABLE 1. PREDICTED LIFE OF VARIOUS-SIZED TRANSFORMERS
Power Rating Predicted Life (yr)
(kVA) Mineral Oil Natural Ester
800 0.028 0.2
1000 3.9 36.5
1200 31.8 276.9
1400 306.1 2614.4
1600 1977.0 16191.4
200 2000
1000 kVA natural ester
1200 kVA natural ester
1000 kVA mineral oil
1200 kVA mineral oil
150 August ambient 1500
load
Temperature ( C)
Load Profile (kW)
0
100 1000
50 500
0 0
00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 24:00
Time of Day
Figure 7. August temperatures and load conditions versus time of day
cyclic loading with a variable ambient temperature in the
background, the hottest-spot temperature curves of the smaller
transformers only exceed the unit life threshold briefly during
the day.
The loading guide [12] allows transformers to operate
above the unit life temperature for short intervals of a daily
cycle provided it operates below that temperature for much
longer intervals. The fluid cools significantly from the late
afternoon to the morning of the following day. As the power
production begins and the day warms up, the hottest-spot
temperature begins to rise, but the duration of the peak power
level is much shorter than the time required for the fluid
temperature to come to equilibrium. For example, the 1200
kVA unit would attain a peak temperature of approximately
135°C with the most severe cyclic loading, but if it were
subjected to these conditions continuously, the hottest-spot
temperature would stabilize at about 170°C. This is why a
cyclically loaded transformer can have a long predicted life
even if it is periodically subjected to conditions that would
cause a rapid failure if applied continuously.
III. CONCLUSIONS
Natural ester fluid is an excellent, environmentally-
friendly replacement for mineral oil derived from petroleum as
a dielectric fluid for use in electrical transformers. It is non-
toxic, biodegradable and carbon-neutral. It is also safer than
mineral oil as it has a higher flash point and is less prone to
catch fire than mineral oil. One of the most salient features of
natural ester fluid is that it is much more compatible with the
Kraft paper that is widely used as the insulation system inside
transformers. The life of Kraft paper submersed in natural
ester fluid is amplified sevenfold compared to the same paper
in mineral oil.
Combining this improvement in fluids with an accurate
method to use real-world solar power production data and
solar farm ambient conditions, we have demonstrated a way to
design optimally-sized transformers of solar power
applications. In this particular case, we have shown that a
transformer rated between 62% and 75% of the maximum
peak load will have a predicted lifespan exceeding 30 years.
Applying the methodology developed here, producers of solar
power will be able to select smaller, less expensive
transformers that have long predicted life spans.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We are grateful to Nole Martin for his help in designing
the series of transformers examined for this work.
REFERENCES
[1] K.J. Rapp, C.P. McShane, J. Vandermaar, D. Vukovic, S. Tenbohlen,
“Long gap breakdown of natural ester fluid”, Intl. Conf. High Voltage
Engineering & Application, Oct.11-14, 2010, New Orleans, USA
[2] K.J. Rapp, J. Luksich, “Review of Kraft paper/natural ester fluid
insulation system aging”, IEEE Intl. Conf. Dielectric Liquids, June 26-
30, 2011, Trondheim, Norway
[3] K.J. Rapp, C.P. McShane, J. Luksich, “Interaction mechanisms of
natural ester dielectric fluid and Kraft paper”, IEEE Intl. Conf. Dielectric
Liquids, June 26 - July 1, 2005, Coimbra, Portugal
[4] D. Bingenheimer, L. Franchini, E. Del Fiacco, J. Mak, V. Vasconcellos,
K. Rapp, “Sustainable electrical energy using natural ester technology”,
CIRED 21st Intl. Conf. Electr. Distr., June 6-9, 2011, Frankfurt,
Germany
[5] L. Yang, R. Liao, C. Sun, J. Yin, M. Zhu, “Influence of Vegetable Oil
on the Thermal Aging Rate of Kraft Paper and its Mechanism”,
International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application,
Oct. 11-14, 2010, New Orleans, USA
[6] Shim, Myeong-Seop, “Comparative Evaluation of Aging of insulating
Material in Natural Ester and Mineral Oil,” International Conference on
High Voltage Engineering and Application, Oct. 11-14, 2010, New
Orleans, USA
[7] B.C. Lippiatt, “BEES 4.0 building for environmental and economic
sustainability”, 2007, U.S. Department of Commerce, Gaithersburg,
USA http://www.wbdg.org/tools/bees.php.
[8] IEC/TS 60076-14 Edition 2.0 “Power transformers – Part 14: Design
and application of liquid-immersed power transformers using high-
temperature insulation materials”, May 2009
[9] A.W. Lemm, K.J. Rapp, J. Luksich, “Effect of natural ester (vegetable
oil) dielectric fluid on the water content of aged paper insulation”,
EIA/IEEE 10th Int’l Electrical Insulation Conf., May 24-26, 2006,
Birmingham, UK
[10] IEC 60076-7 Ed. 1.0, “Power transformers – Part 7: Loading guide for
oil-immersed power transformers”, Dec. 2005
[11] IEEE PC57.154/D4, “Draft Standard for the design, testing and
application of liquid-immersed distribution, power and regulating
transformers using high-temperature insulation systems and operating at
elevated temperatures”, March 2010
[12] IEEE Std. C57.91-1995, IEEE Guide for Loading Mineral-Oil-Immersed
Transformers. pp. 60-84