Patent ID: 8624411

Claim:
A power generation system for generating electrical power, which varies in response to at least one weather-varying factor, the system comprising: an array of power generators subject to said at least one weather-varying factor, the array of power generators disposed over respective locations on a field; a module configured to predict over a time horizon at least one power-generating condition for the array of power generators; and a controller configured to anticipatorily adjust a control strategy regarding operation of at least one component and/or subsystem of the power generation system based on the predicted power-generating condition for the array of power generators over the time horizon, wherein the array of power generators is selected from the group consisting of an array of photovoltaic modules, an array of wind turbines and a combination of said arrays, wherein said at least one component comprises at least one inverter coupled to the array of power generators, wherein the control strategy comprises a cooling control strategy for said at least one inverter based on the predicted power-generating condition for the array of power generators over the time horizon, and further wherein the cooling control strategy for said at least one inverter is selected from the group consisting of a control strategy regarding a cooling flow rate for said at least one inverter, a control strategy regarding a switching frequency for at least one power switch of said at least one inverter, a control strategy regarding an amount of power generated by at least one of the power generators, a control strategy regarding an amount of power to be converted by said at least one inverter and a control strategy comprising a combination of at least two of the foregoing cooling control strategies.