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PV Numericals

A document discusses the design considerations for remote photovoltaic (PV) systems, including: 1) Estimating load profiles and requirements. 2) Estimating available solar radiation. 3) Sizing the PV system based on panels, batteries, and other components to meet the load. The document provides examples of load and energy calculations for remote applications like weather stations and cabins. It also discusses factors that impact PV performance like panel temperature and the effect on power output.

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Muhammad Uzair
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237 views30 pages

PV Numericals

A document discusses the design considerations for remote photovoltaic (PV) systems, including: 1) Estimating load profiles and requirements. 2) Estimating available solar radiation. 3) Sizing the PV system based on panels, batteries, and other components to meet the load. The document provides examples of load and energy calculations for remote applications like weather stations and cabins. It also discusses factors that impact PV performance like panel temperature and the effect on power output.

Uploaded by

Muhammad Uzair
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RE

Design for Remote PV Applications


• PV power may be ideal for a remote application requiring a few
watts to hundreds of kilowatts of electrical power. Even where a
conventional electrical grid is available, for some applications,
where uninterruptible or emergency standby power is necessary,
PV power would be appropriate.
• Some examples of remote PV applications include water pumping
for potable water supply and irrigation, power for remote houses,
street lighting, battery charging, telephone and radio
communication relay stations, and weather stations.
The design of a PV system is based on some basic considerations for
the application.

1. Which is more important, the daily energy output or the power


(average or peak)?

2. Is a backup energy source needed or available?

3. Is energy storage important? What type—battery, pumped water,


and so on?

4. Is the power needed as AC or DC? What voltage?


There are three basic steps in the design of a PV system:

1. Estimation of load and load profile

2. Estimation of available solar radiation

3. Design of PV system, including area of PV panels, selection of other


components, and electrical system schematic
Estimation of Loads and Load Profiles
Precise estimation of loads and their timings (load profile) are
important for PV systems since the system is sized as the minimum
required to satisfy the demand over a day.

For example, if power is needed for five different appliances


requiring 200, 300, 500, 1000, and 1500 W, respectively, so that only
one appliance is on at any one time and each appliance is on for an
average of 1 h a day, the PV system would be sized based on 1500 W
peak power and 3500 watt hours (Wh) of daily energy requirement.
Daily load calculations. How much energy per day is used by a
remote weather station given the following load characteristics?
Load calculations. An owner of a remote cabin wants to install a PV
power system. The loads in the home are described in the following.
Assume that all lights and electronics are powered by AC. Find the
daily and weekly peak and average energy use estimates. The system
used is a 24-V DC system with an inverter.
Loads need to be broken down according to (1) run time, (2) peak power, (3)
night or day use, and (4) AC or DC loads. The load profile is as follows:
Estimation of Available Solar Radiation
Methods of estimation of available solar radiation.
If long-term measured solar radiation values are available at a location,
Equations can be used to estimate the average solar radiation per day.
Otherwise, data for clear day can be used along with percent sunshine data (if
available).

For designing a PV system, a decision is made whether the PV panel will be


operated as tracking the sun or will be fixed at a certain tilt and azimuth angle.

For fixed panels, a tilt angle of latitude +15° works best for winter and latitude
−15° works best for summer. To keep the panel fixed year round, an angle
equal to the latitude provides the maximum yearly energy
PV System Sizing
If meeting the load at all times is not critical, PV systems are usually
sized on the basis of the average values of energy and power
needed, available solar radiation, and component efficiencies. This
is known as the heuristic approach.

It is important to note that a system designed by this approach will


not give the best design but may provide a good start for a detailed
design.
Heuristic approach to PV system sizing.
A PV system using 50-W, 12-V panels with 6-V, 125 Ah batteries is needed
to power a home in Farmington, New Mexico, with a daily load of 1700 Wh.
System voltage is 24 V.
There is an average of 5 daylight hours in the winter. Specify the collector
for the system using the heuristic approach.
Impact of Cell Temperature on Power for a PV Module.
To help system designers account for changes in cell performance with
temperature, manufacturers often provide an indicator called the NOCT,
which stands for nominal operating cell temperature. The NOCT is cell
temperature in a module when ambient is 20◦C, solar irradiation is 0.8
kW/m2, and wind speed is 1 m/s.

To account for other ambient conditions, the following expression may


be used:
Estimate cell temperature, and maximum power output for the 150-W BP2150S
module under conditions of 1-sun insolation and ambient temperature 30◦C.
The module has a NOCT of 47◦C.
DC and AC Rated Power
• A good starting point to estimate system performance is the rated dc
power output of an individual module under standard test conditions
(STC)—that is, 1-sun, AM 1.5 and 25◦C cell temperature. Then we can
try to estimate the actual ac power output under varying conditions.

• When a PV system is put into the field, the actual ac power delivered
at 1-sun, call it Pac, can be represented as the following product:

where Pdc(STC) is the dc power of the array obtained by simply adding the individual module
ratings under standard test conditions. The conversion efficiency accounts for inverter
efficiency, dirty collectors, mismatched modules, and differences in ambient conditions. Even
in full sun, the impact of these losses can easily derate the power output by 20–40%.
Consider a PV array rated at 1 kW under standard test conditions. Module
nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT) is 47◦C. DC power output at
the MPP drops by 0.5%/◦C above the STC temperature of 25◦C.
Estimate its ac output under PTC conditions if there is a 3% array loss due
to mismatched modules, dirt loss is 4%, and the inverter has an efficiency
of 90%.
When the units for daily, monthly, or annual average insolation are
specifically kWh/m2-day, then there is a very convenient way to
interpret that number.

Since 1-sun of insolation is defined as 1 kW/m2, we can think of an


insolation of say 5.6 kWh/m2-day as being the same as 5.6 h/day of 1-
sun, or 5.6 h of “peak sun.”

So, if we know the ac power delivered by an array under 1-sun


insolation (Pac), we can just multiply that rated power by the number of
hours of peak sun to get daily kWh delivered.
If we assume that the average efficiency of the system over a
day’s time is the same as the efficiency when it is exposed to 1-
sun, then the energy collected is what we hoped it would be

The key assumption in is that system efficiency remains pretty much constant throughout the day.
Estimate the annual energy delivered by the 1-kW (dc, STC) array described
in previous Example if it located in Madison, WI, is south-facing, and has a
tilt angle equal to its latitude minus 15◦. Use the PTC ac rating.
Appendix E shows the annual insolation in Madison at L-15 is 4.5
kWh/m2-day.
Using the de-rated ac output of 0.72 kW (ac, PTC) that was found in
Example , along with 4.5 h/day of peak sun, gives
Correcting Predicted Performance for Temperature Effects.

Estimate the energy that the 1-kW (dc, STC) array described in
previous Example would deliver in Madison in January.
Assume south-facing with tilt = L-15 and use the average daily
maximum temperature instead of the 20◦C assumed by PTC.
The nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT) was given as
47◦C for this array.
In Appendix E, the average daily maximum temperature for Madison in
January is given as −4.0◦C. When it is that cold, (8.24) estimates cell
temperature at 1-sun to be
• Including mismatch, dirt and inverter efficiencies given in Example, yields an
estimated ac rated power at of
An energy efficient house in Fresno is to be fitted with a rooftop PV array
that will annually displace all of the 3600 kWh/yr of electricity that the home
uses. How many kW (dc, STC) of panels will be required and what area will be
needed? Make assumptions as needed.

We’ll assume the roof is south-facing with a moderate tilt angle. Data in
Appendix E indicate 5.7 kWh/m2-day of annual insolation for L-15, which at
Fresno’s latitude of 37◦ means a tilt of 22◦.
Should a House in Boulder Use a 1-Axis
Tracker?
A PV system for a house in Boulder, CO, is to be designed to deliver
about 4000 kWh/yr. Given the following costs, decide whether to
recommend a fixed array at tilt L-15 or a single-axis tracker. Assume
12%-efficient PVs and a 0.75 dc-to-ac efficiency factor.

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