Analysis and Evaluation of a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic (PV)

PART A – Individual Work: Analysis and evaluation of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV)
system
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[Course]
[Date]
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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................2
Task A: System Performance base on monitored Data................................................4
Technical Design of the System.............................................................................................4
Available Data Analysis.........................................................................................................5
Critical Evaluation of Data.....................................................................................................6
System Efficiency...............................................................................................................7
The System Yield................................................................................................................9
Solar Irradiation................................................................................................................10
Performance ratio..............................................................................................................10
Task B: System Simulation in PVSYST...................................................................11
PVSYST simulation of the Project.......................................................................................11
Conclusion............................................................................................................13
References............................................................................................................14
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Introduction
With the cost of energy increasing and the other sources of electric generation,
traditional ones, being depleted, these factors coupled by the fact that the cost of living is on
the rise, solar energy has become a suitable way of generating electricity in households and
corporates. The fact that solar energy is inexhaustible, there’s abundance of it, and is a non-
pollutant the solar generation way is better that the other ways of electricity generation. In the
UK there’s a good solar radiation throughout the year, though the winter usually gets has a
lower solar radiation, but it is enough to generate electricity for even an average commercial
premise. Solar panel generation can only be a successful way of electricity generation, when
it is well designed, which follows a good installation. When designing a solar PV generation
plant, be it domestic or for commercial purposes, there are some factors that must be
considered like: the efficiency of the sunshine hours, the space for installation, the purpose
for the solar (what the power will be used for), the financial capability of the person installing
the solar PV, the angle of inclination of the solar PV panels, the type of the solar PV panels,
among other factors.
A solar plant usually has two sides, the direct current (DC) and the alternating
current (AC) of the plant. These designs are usually different because they have different
devices used in the installation of each of the sides. The installation of the DC side of the
plant, depends on the type of devices that shall be used, whether parallel or series connection.
When PV connection is in series the DC side of the PV plant, the total Maximum Power
Points (MPP) is more than the inverter Min MPP voltage. Total open-circuit voltage at a
minimum module temperature is less that the inverter at maximum voltage. When PV
connection is in parallel, the maximum current shall be less than or equal to maximum input
current of the inverter, the number of the combiner boxes of the arrays, whether the
monitoring base is available or not, are equal to the number of inverter inputs. The AC side of
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the plant design must have: the AC side cables, Low Tension (LT) switchgear and Mega
voltage switchgear, the power transformers (LV to MV), the High Tensions (HT) switchyard,
metering and protection and the transmission lines.
Based on the drawings provided and the data provided, the aim of the this paper is
to analyse the performance of the PV system in excel where there are entered data, it also
focuses on the simulation tool called PVSYST to evaluate the details of the project and
compare the results with the analysed. The data provided are for a solar
Task A: System Performance base on monitored Data
Technical Design of the System
The solar panels are slated to be on a roof top, inclined at a particular angle to
focus on the sunlight. The angle of inclination shall be around 10o on the rooftop as earlier
indicated and shall cover an area of 283 m2. The solar PV are arranged in 18 strings, meaning
that there are 12 modules connected in parallel, with every array having three of the panels.
The solar panel used shall have a power of 180W, manufactured from a company called
Sharp electronics company written as NU180E1, this shows the power in watts produced per
solar panel and they are of the monocrystalline model. An array will have 36 panels and with
six arrays means the total shall be 216 panels which further means there shall be six inverters
having a parallel connection with the panels. The system shall have monocrystalline as
indicated earlier, which suits the system. As it is known, monocrystalline is efficient (Sendy,
2020).
Once the array has been established and connected, the next connection shall be
the junction boxes for the arrays, where there are DC component connection for the solar PV
system. This part is responsible for power division that goes to the various circuits, it also
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