Climate change and global warming have triggered a global increase in the use of renewable energy for various purposes. In recent years, the photovoltaic (PV)-system has become one of the most ...popular renewable energy technologies that captures solar energy for different applications. Despite its popularity, its adoption is still facing enormous challenges, especially in developing countries. Experience from research and practice has revealed that installed PV-systems significantly underperform. This has been one of the major barriers to PV-system adoption, yet it has received very little attention. The poor performance of installed PV-systems means they do not generate the required electric energy output they have been designed to produce. Performance assessment parameters such as performance yields and performance ratio (PR) help to provide mathematical accounts of the expected energy output of PV-systems. Many reasons have been advanced for the disparity in the performance of PV-systems. This study aims to analyze the factors that affect the performance of installed PV-systems, such as geographical location, solar irradiance, dust, and shading. Other factors such as multiplicity of PV-system components in the market and the complexity of the permutations of these components, their types, efficiencies, and their different performance indicators are poorly understood, thus making it difficult to optimize the efficiency of the system as a whole. Furthermore, mathematical computations are presented to prove that the different design methods often used for the design of PV-systems lead to results with significant differences due to different assumptions often made early on. The methods for the design of PV-systems are critically appraised. There is a paucity of literature about the different methods of designing PV-systems, their disparities, and the outcomes of each method. The rationale behind this review is to analyze the variations in designs and offer far-reaching recommendations for future studies so that researchers can come up with more standardized design approaches.
Owing to low cost, small size, and low weight, transformerless inverters became prominent in single-phase grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. Key issues pertaining to these inverters include ...suppression of common mode (CM) leakage current and improvement of conversion efficiency. Achieving higher efficiency in single-phase grid-connected photovoltaic systems depends on the number of stages involved in feeding power to the grid, predominantly, if the PV array voltage is less than the peak value of the grid voltage. In this paper, an integrated dc-dc converter based grid-connected transformerless PV inverter is proposed which is aimed at maintaining high efficiency, even if the PV array voltage falls below the peak value of grid voltage (efficient operation at an extended input voltage range). A modulation strategy is discussed in order to minimize the flow of CM leakage current. Further, the efficiencies of certain transformerless inverter topologies are analyzed and compared with that of the proposed topology. Detailed simulation studies are carried out in MATLAB/Simulink environment to verify the analysis. Experimental results for a scaled down laboratory prototype are included as a proof-of-concept to validate the claims.
This paper describes the design, manufacturing, installation and monitoring of a BIPV system that consists of coloured 3D structured façade elements, mounted on an existing office building at the ...High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. The façade elements contain thin film CIGS modules, which adopt the curved structure of the elements. The encapsulation of the PV modules into the façade elements, the colouration and the curvature led to a relative loss of about 10 % of the efficiency. The PV façade consists of 48 elements with a STC capacity of 5.8 kWp. Each element was equipped with a power optimizer, enabling individual monitoring of each façade element. The elements have been installed at the east and south façade of the building. The monitoring presented in this paper comprised a period of 5 months: the summer and autumn of 2023. The DC performance ratio during that period was 75 % for the elements on the East façade and 80 % for the elements on the South façade; which is in accordance with simplified model predictions. The result is a visual attractive retrofitted PV façade contributing to zero emission strategy of the Eindhoven High Tech Campus.
Abstract
Agrivoltaics is the dual use of land by combining agricultural crop production and photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this work, we have analyzed three different agrivoltaic configurations: ...static with optimal tilt, vertically mounted bifacial, and single‐axis horizontal tracking. A model is developed to calculate the shadowing losses on the PV panels along with the reduced solar irradiation reaching the area under them for different PV capacity densities. First, we investigate the trade‐offs using a location in Denmark as a case study and second, we extrapolate the analysis to the rest of Europe. We find that the vertical and single‐axis tracking produce more uniform irradiance on the ground, and a capacity density of around 30 W/m
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is suitable for agrivoltaic systems. Based on our model and a 100‐m‐resolution land cover database, we calculate the potential for agrivoltaic in every region within the European Union. The potential for agrivoltaic is enormous as the electricity generated by agrivoltaic systems could produce 25 times the current electricity demand in Europe. Overall, the potential capacity for agrivoltaic in Europe is 51 TW, which would result in an electricity yield of 71,500 TWh/year.
Partial shading (PS) condition has a negative effect on the shaded photovoltaic (PV) modules/arrays itself. In addition, it reduces the output power generated considerably. The PV system ...configuration represents one of the effective solutions to alleviate the PS effects and extract the global maximum power (GMP) available from the partially shaded PV (PSPV) system. This study introduces a detailed performance analysis and comparisons of four proposed PV system configurations module integrated converter (MIC), multi-strings interfaced interleaved boost converter (MSIBC), multi-arrays interfaced IBC and single array single converter (SASC) in terms of output power generated and mismatch loss (MML) index. The selection of the best PV system configuration, which not only mitigates the PS effects but also extracts the GMP available from the PSPV system, depends on a trade-off between the generated power, cost and complexity before judging which one is preferable. Although the MIC PV system has the highest output power generated (33 kW) and MML (100%), it increases the PV system complexity. Whereas, MSIBC has the second highest output power generated (28 kW) and MML compared to MIC. SASC has the lowest generated power and MML among the four configurations. The finding proves that MSIBC has superior performance compared to the other PV system configurations considering both the technical and economic assessment.
In this paper, a Filter-Clamped (FC) inverter is employed as a three-phase grid-connected Transformerless Photovoltaic (TLPV) inverter. TLPV inverters are more efficient and more cost-effective ...compared to the alternatives based on high and low-frequency isolation transformers. On the other hand, TLPV inverters generate high leakage current due to the removal of the isolation transformer. Prior-art TLPV topologies have been developed to overcome this issue by either adding more semiconductor switches to block potential leakage current paths or modifying the control method. In contrast, the FC inverter addresses the leakage current issue without adding any extra component or improving the control technique. Thus, it is a promising solution to TLPV systems. Having decreased the leakage current, the FC inverter improves the THD of grid injected current and the efficiency compared to the conventional three-phase Full-Bridge (FB) inverter. Simulations and experiments are provided to validate the effectiveness of the FC inverter in terms of reduced leakage current, improved grid current THD, and improved overall efficiency.
•Roof Top Floating PV test bench for the hot climatic condition.•Floating PV systems reduced water evaporation by 17% and 28%.•Lowering the front temperature of FPV modules by 2–4%.•The optimal tilt ...angle of FPV necessary for maximum power.
Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) is a relatively new concept for producing clean green energy. This study presents the results of an experimental investigation of a small-scale FPV system. The goal is to evaluate and compare the thermal and electrical performances of mono and polycrystalline photovoltaic modules used in FPV with those of On Ground PV (OPV) systems with a similar nominal capacity. To accomplish this, a test bench consisting of an FPV and an OPV system has been established. The results show that when the water body is partially covered with a Floating PV system, water evaporation is reduced by 17%. And it is reduced by around 28% when fully covered. It was also found that water bodies provide an adequate cooling effect. Lowering the front temperature of Floating PV modules by 2–4% and the back temperature by 5–11% compared to similar On-ground PV modules. Thermal imaging revealed that at 0 degrees of tilt, the front temperatures of the modules are uniform. Still, as the tilt increases, a temperature gradient is observed between the bottom and middle parts of the modules. In addition, an experimental test was performed to compare the power generation of Floating PV at varying tilt angles. The test results show that the Floating PV system produces the most energy when installed at the annual optimal tilt angle. As a result, for FPV, adjusting the Photovoltaic panels to their optimized tilt angle is also recommended. While Floating PV system produces 20–28% more energy than the on-ground PV system at 0°as compared to the optimal tilt angle.
This paper introduces a Trio-PV monitor: a smart IoT-based instrument for the continuous and accurate monitoring of solar PV systems. The instrument is a synergistic combination of electronic ...hardware, desktop applications and a website. It has been conceived to provide monitoring, storage, and sharing as well as to perform statistical operations on solar energy-related data collected at any chosen site. The instrument features high flexibility, with the capacity of monitoring PV plants of up to a 90 kW rating. It is intentionally equipped with large-range weather-proof sensors, permitting monitoring and evaluation across different seasons and geographical areas. The proposed instrument targets six keys operating variables of a PV systems, namely irradiance, panel-temperature, ambient temperature, humidity, PV current and voltage. The automated design of the Trio-PV monitor allows for continuous operation for 12 h within a day. The instrument has been used to monitor simple 30 W solar PV-DC connected systems, with acquired results revealing it practical suitability and soundness. The friendly user interface of the system allows a graphical visualization of monitored parameters in real time through an installed desktop application. Finally, the IoT competence of the proposed instrument extensively allows data acquisition and the monitoring of a PV system from any location in the world. It is envisioned that the developed instrument would be a leverage package for data acquisition and the monitoring of PV system installations in developing countries and especially in Cameroon where access to information on PV systems is still highly costly and unreliable.
This study deals with a double-stage single-phase grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system operating with an additional feed-forward control loop (FFCL). Owing to the PV array being constantly ...subjected to abrupt solar irradiance change, the DC-bus voltage varies and can interfere in adequate PV system operation. Therefore, an FFCL is proposed to improve the DC-bus voltage dynamic response, and reduce the settling time and overshoot. The FFCL acts on the generation of the inverter current reference, such that the dynamic behaviour of the current injected into the grid is also improved. Furthermore, the PV system performance is affected by problems associated with mismatching phenomena such as partial shading. This problem can be overcome using the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique based on particle swarm optimisation (PSO). The PSO-based MPPT is compared with the conventional perturb-and-observe MPPT technique, in order to highlight its effectiveness. In this study, the PV system also performs active power-line conditioning. Thereby, whereas the step-up DC–DC converter carries out the MPPT, the proper inverter current reference is computed to inject active power into the grid, as well as perform power-line conditioning. The performance and effectiveness of the PV system are evaluated through extensive experimental tests.
Based on the fact that PV systems are clean, environment friendly and secure energy sources, PV system installation has played an important role worldwide. However, the drawback of PV system is the ...high capital cost as compared to conventional energy sources. Currently, many research works are carried out focusing on optimization of PV systems so that the number of PV modules, capacity of storage battery, capacity of inverter, wind turbine capacity as well as diesel generator size optimally selected. In this paper, the current status of research on PV systems size optimization is reviewed taking into account standalone PV systems, hybrid PV/diesel generator systems, hybrid PV/wind systems, hybrid PV/wind/diesel generator systems as well as grid connected systems. In addition, size optimization techniques for the inverter in PV systems are reviewed. The outcome of this paper shows that the optimization of PV system is strongly depends on meteorological variables such as solar energy, ambient temperature and wind speed. Furthermore, the numerical methods are the mostly used methods. Meanwhile the artificial intelligence techniques have been employed recently to improve the process of PV system size optimization.
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