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Title: Comparing capacity value estimation techniques for photovoltaic solar power

Journal Article · · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
 [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

In this paper, we estimate the capacity value of photovoltaic (PV) solar plants in the western U.S. Our results show that PV plants have capacity values that range between 52% and 93%, depending on location and sun-tracking capability. We further compare more robust but data- and computationally-intense reliability-based estimation techniques with simpler approximation methods. We show that if implemented properly, these techniques provide accurate approximations of reliability-based methods. Overall, methods that are based on the weighted capacity factor of the plant provide the most accurate estimate. As a result, we also examine the sensitivity of PV capacity value to the inclusion of sun-tracking systems.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1354830
Journal Information:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 3, Issue 1; ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 47 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Cited By (2)

Capacity value estimation of random solar power through associative searching in a k‐d tree journal May 2019
Forecasting of Turkey's electricity generation and CO 2 emissions in estimating capacity factor journal November 2018