TITLE:
Real-Time Performance Assessment of Operating Photovoltaic (PV) Systems
AUTHORS:
Abdullah M. ALzahrani, Mohamed A. Zohdy
KEYWORDS:
PV System, Irradiance Calculation, PV Performance Method
JOURNAL NAME:
Energy and Power Engineering,
Vol.12 No.6,
June
19,
2020
ABSTRACT: A technology called solar energy is a very promising technique, and is
considered as the cleanest and the most abundant renewable resource that is
naturally available every day. In this paper, a MATLAB environment has been
developed to calculate real-time power incidence on a PV system. It takes into
account the time, location, PV tilt, and azimuth angles, and weather conditions
to estimate incident power. In this paper, one case study is considered at New
York State location. It has been applied to a newly installed 8 kW residential
system located in Inwood. The solar panels are made up of silicon HIT
(Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer) cells by Panasonic and solar cell
rated at 19%. The result shows that the system is performing at its rated
efficiency. The calculations involve the determination of direct, diffused and
reflected radiation on the panels taking into account the time of the day,
location, PV area, and orientations and weather conditions. The cloudiness
index may be estimated based on the weather data and included in the
calculations. After performing the irradiance calculations, the output power is
estimated based on the rated efficiency at its temperature and compared with
the generated output power. The real-time assessment of a PV system
performance, during the operational time monitors the health of the PV system.
The data obtained by this calculator may accompany production data provided to
the consumer by the utility company.