Review of the performance of residential PV systems in Belgium (original) (raw)
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Performance analysis of 10,000 residential PV systems in France and Belgium
The main objective of this paper is to review the state of the art of residential PV systems in France and Belgium. This is done analyzing the operational data of 10650 PV systems (9657 located in France and 993 in Belgium). Three main questions are posed. How much energy do they produce? What level of performance is associated to their production? Which are the key parameters that most influence their quality? During the year 2010, the PV systems in France have produced a mean annual energy of 1163 kWh/kWp in France and 852 kWh/kWp in Belgium. As a whole, the orientation of PV generators causes energy productions to be some 7% inferior to optimally oriented PV systems. The mean Performance Ratio is 76% in France and 78% in Belgium, and the mean Performance Index is 85% in both countries. On average, the real power of the PV modules falls 4.9% below its corresponding nominal power announced on the manufacturer’s datasheet. A brief analysis by PV modules technology has lead to relevant observations about two technologies in particular. On the one hand, the PV systems equipped with Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HIT) modules show performances higher than average. On the other hand, the systems equipped with Copper Indium (di)Selenide (CIS) modules show a real power that is 16 % lower than their nominal value.
Review of the performance of residential PV systems in France
Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012
The main objective of this paper is to review the state of the art of residential PV systems in France. This is done analyzing the operational data of 6868 installations. Three main questions are posed. How much energy do they produce? What level of performance is associated to their production? Which are the key parameters that most influence their quality? During the year 2010, the PV systems in France have produced a mean annual energy of 1163 kWh/kW p . As a whole, the orientation of PV generators causes energy productions to be some 7% inferior to optimally oriented PV systems. The mean performance ratio is 76% and the mean performance index is 85%. That is to say, the energy produced by a typical PV system in France is 15% inferior to the energy produced by a very high quality PV system. On average, the real power of the PV modules falls 4.9% below its corresponding nominal power announced on the manufacturer's datasheet. A brief analysis by PV modules technology has led to relevant observations about two technologies in particular. On the one hand, the PV systems equipped with heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) modules show performances higher than average. On the other hand, the systems equipped with the copper indium (di)selenide (CIS) modules show a real power that is 16 % lower than their nominal value.
Analysis of the state of the art of PV systems in Europe
The number of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in Europe has drastically increased over the last few years, mostly thanks to the advantageous feed-in tariffs set in by each country’s government. A relatively little fraction of the energy production data of these PV systems has been analysed, and as a consequence, there still remain wide gaps in the knowledge of the real-world performance of these PV systems. This feedback from the field is nevertheless important for the future development of the PV industry and for the establishment of new renewable energy development programmes by the respective governments. We have analysed the operational data monitored at more than 31,000 PV systems in Europe. These installations comprise residential and commercial rooftop PV systems distributed over 9 different countries, including multi-megawatt PV plants installed in the South of Europe. The PV systems were installed between 2006 and 2014. The mean Energy Yield of the PV systems located in the four reference countries are 1115 kWh/kWp for France, 898 kWh/kWp for the UK, 908 kWh/kWp for Belgium, 1450 kWh/kWp for the PV plants in Spain mounted on a static structure, and 2127 kWh/kWp for those mounted on a solar tracker in Spain. We suggest that the typical PR value for the PV systems installed in 2015 is 0.81. We have observed that the performance of the PV system s tends to increase when the peak power of the PV systems increases. We have found significant performance differences as a function of the inverter manufacturer, and the PV module manufacturer and technology. We have found an improvement of the state-of-the-art, in the form of an increase in performance in the yearly integrated PR of around 3 to 4% over the last seven years, which represents an increase of about 0.5% per year. The wide disparity in yearly integrated performance ratio, between 0.6 and 0.9, implies that there is a difference of some 30% between the best and the worst performers. Ideally, the PV sector should aim at reaching PR values over 0.84 for most of the PV systems to be installed in the future. More quality controls and further improvement in the state of the art are therefore a very promising option towards a leap in overall performance, which could lead to an average value of PR over 0.84, representing an improvement in performance around 10%, and a corresponding reduction in LCoE of the same order of magnitude.
Design Rules for a PV-Inverter in Belgium: Evaluation of Actual Rules of Thumb
36th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems (ECOS 2023)
An optimized inverter sizing depends on the installed photovoltaic capacity, the azimuth and zenith of the panels, the latitude and the efficiency curve of the inverter. Simplified inverter sizing rules are generally used and can be narrowed to two rules of thumb. The first rule aims a maximum PV-production and uses an inverter according to the PV power, the second rule aims a maximum self-sufficiency and uses an inverter size ratio of 0.7. Simulations are performed to quantify the production loss or self-sufficiency loss when the rule of thumb is used instead of the optimized inverter power for a load profile with only household appliances. In a second part, the energy system is extended with a heat pump, a battery or both combined. This study checks if the refurbishment of residential PV systems with heat pump and/or battery still can use the same rules of thumb or is a new sizing method preferred to replace the inverter. Detailed models for load, PV-inverter, battery and battery-converter are developed. The PV-production and the self-sufficiency are determined for 6 azimuths and 7 zenith positions. A final evaluation of the rules of thumb is made.
Sustainability
The increasing global penetration of photovoltaic (PV) technology creates not only enormous opportunities for clean energy production but also poses challenges that put energy systems to the test. Although there are many ways of dealing with the rising share of PV energy, most of these solutions require substantial funding, time, and effort to implement, which highlights the importance of solving some of the issues at their source, i.e., through the direct use of the electricity generated at PV power plants, many of which are owned and operated by households. In recent decades, PV technology has experienced an unprecedented growth in Europe due to a range of reasons, including the nations’ policies and supporting schemes. The goal of the present research was to determine the annual consumption of electricity per capita in the households of certain European countries and how much of this can be covered by the direct use of PV energy in the case of an on-grid PV system and to show wha...
Techno-Economic Analysis of Alternative PV Orientations in Poland by Rescaling Real PV Profiles
Energies
This paper presents factors affecting the effectiveness of photovoltaic (PV) plants and issues occurring in the distribution system network due to the high penetration of conventionally designed PV plants. Factors analyzed in this paper are shading, distance between panels, location of PV plants, European grid code requirements, and network constraints. Their impacts on the effectiveness of the PV power plant are presented one by one. Furthermore, the 1-year power profile of a real PV plant is rescaled to different orientations, and the energy effectiveness of different variants is compared. Finally, the economic aspects are considered by multiplying the energy produced by the energy prices. At the end, final conclusions are given and further research is outlined.
Solar Energy, 2014
In Germany the introduction of a feed-in tariff for renewable energies in the year 2000 led to a massive increase in newly constructed photovoltaic (PV) plants reaching a total installed capacity of 35 GW p as of November 30th, 2013. The distribution of these plants shows a large disparity between regions, which motivates investigations of regional potentials which earlier studies of Germany have not addressed in detail. This study presents a high-resolution calculation for the technical potential of residential-roof-mounted photovoltaic systems for each municipality in Germany. Electricity load curves for municipalities were generated based on the socioeconomic structure and used to draw generalized conclusions about the relationship between the (potential) supply from PV and the local demand. The total German residential-roof-mounted technical PV potential was determined as 148 TWh/a with an installable capacity of 208 GW p. About 30% of municipalities could become autonomous based on a yearly balance of PV electricity generation. If the daily and seasonal variations in demand and PV electricity generation were considered, only 53 of the 11,593 German municipalities could become autonomous, provided they installed a short-term storage system which would have to be sized around 57% of their daily electricity demand. Imposing the restriction that no feedback of electricity into the distribution network outside the municipality should occur, and assuming that no local storage exists, around 49% of the total technical potential, i.e. 103 GW p could be installed (i.e. 90 GW p additional potential since some municipalities already experience feedbacks into the distribution network). A validation of the results with municipal solar cadastres has shown that the discrepancy between them and the technical potential calculated in this study is quite consistently about 30%, which is assumed to be due to non-residential buildings not being considered here. The calculated technical potential is most sensitive to the assumptions on the module efficiency and the usable area of (slanted) roofs. A validation of building data assumptions as well as a comparison with other studies both show a good agreement.
Comparative assessments of the performances of PV/T and conventional solar plants
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019
The building's energy demand consists of both thermal energy and electricity that may be provided through solar energy sources. Typically, the electrical energy needs are satisfied by photovoltaic plants (PV)s, while the thermal energy needs are satisfied by solar thermal plants (ST)s. However, there is the possibility to produce simultaneously electrical and thermal energy by hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) plants. This study presents the comparison of the performances of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) plant with those of a systems made by a PV plant plus a ST plant (PV+ST). Such comparisons are interesting in those buildings where there is not enough available surface for installing both PV and ST plants as much as necessary for satisfying the energy needs of such buildings (e.g. in residential tower buildings). This research is carried out having as target a residential unit situated in different geographic areas: Catania (IT) , Split (HR) and Freiburg (D). The outcomes of the energy analysis, calculated following the first and the second thermodynamic law approach, highlight that a PV/T plant produces more energy than a conventional solar system (PV-ST) in the three cities. Otherwise, the results of the economic analysis show that the PV plants allow to achieve the most economic benefits due to the cheaper cost of this technology.
Design and energy performance of PV systems: a case study Kosova
International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive Systems (IJPEDS), 2024
The energy and environmental crisis are increasing every day. Where the focus of energy production is being driven by renewable energy sources. Solar energy represents an inexhaustible source of energy that can be used almost anywhere. This paper presents the analysis of the energy performance of photovoltaic (PV) and photovoltaic thermal (PVT) panels for the climatic conditions of Kosovo. The site analyzed is the building of the University Clinical Center in Prishtina. The analysis included five types of photovoltaic modules from where the highest energy performance is shown by the PVT panels with a theoretical power produced during July 273 W while during December 78 W. Also, with an efficiency of 59.77% during the month of December and an efficiency of 17.08% during the month of July. While among the other types of PV panels, polycrystalline panels have the best performance with a theoretical power of 252 W during July and 72 W during December. But they showed an efficiency of 48.78 during the month of December and an efficiency of 13.94 during the month of July. The analysis made is presented in an analytical and detailed manner for certain climatic conditions of annual measurements.