Master Class

on
PVsyst
Solar Project Designing Tool
7th June 2013

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Objectives

• Fundamental aspects of PV system design

• Performance assessment of PV systems
• PVSyst simulation process
• PV array shading analysis
• Custom engineering
• Simulating loss factors
• Assessment of hourly generation
• System design for fixed v/s tracking system
• PR calculations
• Hands-on PVSyst case studies for grid connected and rooftop systems
 Understanding Solar PV Technologies

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Solar PV technologies

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 Solar PV Price Trends

3.00

Crystalline($ / Wp) Thin film CdS/CdTe($ / Wp) Thin film a-Si/µ-Si($ / Wp)
2.50

2.00
price in us dollar $

1.50

1.00

0.50

-
Mar-10

Mar-11

Mar-12
Sep-10
Sep-09
Nov-09

Nov-10

Sep-11
Nov-11
Jul-09

Jul-10

Jul-11
May-09

Jan-10

May-10

Jan-11

May-11

Jan-12
Months & Year

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PV Prices have been free fall over past couple of years

Efficiency
Increases

Increased
competition

Economy Innovative
of scale technologies

Source: ITRPV, SEMI

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 PV Material Trends-Silicon wafer price

Silicon price $/kg

80 •The PV module cost is function
70 Silicon price $/kg of material price and the
60 efficiency of conversion
50 •The silicon price trends will lead
40 to the module price in the range
of $ 0.5/Wp by 2017
30
•Reduction in wafer thickness
20
has also led to reduced module
10 price.
0 •Further there is a trend in glass
2010 2011 2012 thickness reduction, larger ingot
size, and back contact options.
Source: ITRPV, SEMI, PG Group

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 •25 year life and <1%
degradation/year is the industry
standard.
•PV modules installed after 2000
have been much more reliable in
case of thin film.

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 Annual Cell production by Country

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 Solar Resource Assessment

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 Average GHI and DNI In India

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 Solar radiation data

8 • The GHI for the region is ranging from 4

kWh/sq.m./day from 3.26 to 7.42 kWh/sq.m./day.
As per Meteonorm database, the annual GHI of
7
the site is 2021 kWh/sq.m
G
H
6 • Four types of data sources are compared for the
I site (GHI (kwh/sq.m./day). These include MNRE-
NREL, NASA-SSE and Meteonorm and Solar GIS
(

k 5
W (1 May’12-30 Apr’13)
h
/
s
4 • MNRE-NREL model estimates annual average
q
.
GHI at 10 km resolution based on hourly estimates
m 3 of radiation over 7 years (2002-2008)
/
d
a • NASA-SSE is satellite monthly data for a grid of
y 2
MNRE-NREL Meteonorm 1°x1° (111 km) covering the whole world, for a 10
)

NASA Solar GIS (for last 1 year) years period (1983-1993).

1
• Solar GIS values represent an area of 250 m x
0
250 m
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

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 Data Uncertainty

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 Insolation

• Insolation-Incident Solar Radiation, kWh/m2.

• Approximately 1 kW/m2 at the earth’s surface.

1 kW/m2 of irradiance for 5 hours

= 1 kW/m2 x 5 hr = 5 kWh/m2 of insolation
5 kWh/m2 of insolation on a 2 sq-m surface
= 5kWh/m2 * 2 m2 = 10 kWh of energy received byt he surface.

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 Uncertainty in Energy Yield Prediction

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 System sizing

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 PV string

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 Module specifications

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Module Characteristics

I-V Characteristics with respective Irradiance

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Module Characteristics

Efficiency vs Irradiance at different temperatures

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Module Characteristics

I-V Characteristics with respective Temperature

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 Fixed and Tracking Structures

Single axis tracking

Dual axis tracking

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Radiation Gain record of a typical tracker system

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 Inverter selection

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Effect of Temperature on Inverter

PVsyst

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Effect of Temperature on Inverter

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 Effect of shading on PV cell

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 Shading Analysis

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Shading Analysis – Lateral shading

• As the plant has a slope towards west, the adjoining array has level difference of about 6 inches which is causing lateral
shading on the adjoining panels. A shading analysis for typical 2 arrays was conducted and observed that about 0.136% of
energy is lost due to lateral shading. This accounts for a loss of 12.7 MWh of energy on annual basis and leads to a revenue
loss of approx. INR 148,000

34
First Green Consulting Pvt Ltd,U 28A/3 FF, White Town House DLF Ph III Gurgaon, Haryana – 122002, India
 CABLE SIZING

-1 % saving in the conductor losses can save about 20 Lakh rupees in case
of a typical 5MW plant.
-The Ampacity of DC Cable is function of temperature.
- Aluminium conductors have higher resistance and low ductile strength.
-Low voltage drop in Copper cables , generally used at DC side of the plant.
-Bunching of cables reduces Ampacity .

ACSR cable Copper cable

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Correction factor for cables at different temperatures

• As temperature increases ,the Ampacity of the

conductor reduces .So correction factors are to be
considered before sizing of a cable .

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 Voltage drop in string
cable with temperature
800

700

600

500
Voltage in V

400

300

200

100

0
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Temperature in Deg C

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 Layout of a PV plant-DC side

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 Layout of a PV plant-AC side

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Module cell operating temperature (Thermography test)

• Tests were conducted on about 20 individual

panels/tables to detect hot spots

• The highest at the module surface during the

thermography was observed 62.5 deg C

• While the average surface temp of cell was ranging 40-

50 deg C, the hot spot temperatures were observed in
the range of 45- 60 deg C

Source: Photovoltaik Institute, Berlin

40
First Green Consulting Pvt Ltd,U 28A/3 FF, White Town House DLF Ph III Gurgaon, Haryana – 122002, India
Review of Plant Performance

Actual PR Vs Calculated PR
1.20

1.00

0.80

0.60

0.40

0.20

0.00
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Actual PR Calculated PR

41
First Green Consulting Pvt Ltd,U 28A/3 FF, White Town House DLF Ph III Gurgaon, Haryana – 122002, India
Shading Analysis

Loss in Energy due to shading

9500

G
9450
e
n
9400
e
r
a 9350
t
i
o 9300
n
(

M 9250
W
h
9200
)

9150
Generation without shading Generation with shading

•There is a loss of 163.3 MWh of energy due to effect of shading on the plant during morning and evening hours resulting in
a revenue loss of INR 19 lacs

• The shading losses are of the order of 1.73%. These losses are expected to be further higher as the array face the shading
during the morning hours due to differential leveling of array structures

42
First Green Consulting Pvt Ltd,U 28A/3 FF, White Town House DLF Ph III Gurgaon, Haryana – 122002, India
 Loss diagram for 1MW plant

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 Thank You

First Green Consulting Private Limited

U-28A/3 FF, White Town House
DLF Ph III Gurgaon,
Haryana – 122002, India
Tel.: (+91) 124 424 1750 , 9899295854
Fax: (+91) 124 424 1751

Web: www.firstgreenconsulting.in
Email: sanjayvashishtha@gmail.com
Blog: firstgreenconsulting.wordpress.com
09-06-2013