Abstract
This is the final report from a project in which an early-design-phase tool for photovoltaic (PV) systems has been developed. The aim of the tool is to provide a quick and easy way to estimate the electricity production and the economy of a PV system. Although it is effective and easy to use, the model takes into account all the important factors that affect the design, performance and economy of a system, and makes it possible with more in-depth analyses as well. The intended users of the tool are both electricity end-users thinking on investing in a small-scale system and large investors planning in an early project phase for large-scale PV systems. The developed tool is a simulation tool rather than an optimization tool. However, as the model is efficient and simple to use, it is easy to vary parameters and input data in different scenarios to arrive at an optimal solution. In order for the tool to realistically estimate the load matching of a PV system, which depends on seasonal and diurnal variations in both load and production profiles, the computations are made on an hourly basis. An hourly resolution is the most common one in meteorological data and
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Citation Formats
Widen, Joakim.
Model for economic optimization of solar power plants; Beraekningsmodell foer ekonomisk optimering av solelanlaeggningar.
Sweden: N. p.,
2011.
Web.
Widen, Joakim.
Model for economic optimization of solar power plants; Beraekningsmodell foer ekonomisk optimering av solelanlaeggningar.
Sweden.
Widen, Joakim.
2011.
"Model for economic optimization of solar power plants; Beraekningsmodell foer ekonomisk optimering av solelanlaeggningar."
Sweden.
@misc{etde_1010790,
title = {Model for economic optimization of solar power plants; Beraekningsmodell foer ekonomisk optimering av solelanlaeggningar}
author = {Widen, Joakim}
abstractNote = {This is the final report from a project in which an early-design-phase tool for photovoltaic (PV) systems has been developed. The aim of the tool is to provide a quick and easy way to estimate the electricity production and the economy of a PV system. Although it is effective and easy to use, the model takes into account all the important factors that affect the design, performance and economy of a system, and makes it possible with more in-depth analyses as well. The intended users of the tool are both electricity end-users thinking on investing in a small-scale system and large investors planning in an early project phase for large-scale PV systems. The developed tool is a simulation tool rather than an optimization tool. However, as the model is efficient and simple to use, it is easy to vary parameters and input data in different scenarios to arrive at an optimal solution. In order for the tool to realistically estimate the load matching of a PV system, which depends on seasonal and diurnal variations in both load and production profiles, the computations are made on an hourly basis. An hourly resolution is the most common one in meteorological data and to increase the resolution further is neither practically possible nor required for accuracy. The hourly irradiation data used in the model were collected from the publicly available STRAaNG database, which is maintained by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). Idealized hourly load profiles for typical Swedish end-user categories are also included in the tool. A general computational model was implemented in Matlab, which provided easy testing, visualization and validation of the model. The computations involved can be summarized in four main steps: 1 Radiation computations. This involves a transposition of radiation components to the tilted plane of the PV array. The model takes the orientation of the system into account and uses assumed albedo values of the surroundings to add ground-reflected radiation. 2 PV system simulations. A simplified model of the PV system, including different loss mechanisms, is used to convert incident radiation to a power output from the system inverter. 3 Electricity use and load matching analyses. The interaction with the electricity distribution grid is determined from the power production and load profiles. 4 Economical analysis. The economy of the system is determined from the load matching analysis and depends on system costs, subsidies and different debiting and net metering alternatives. The exact model computations are summarized in Appendix A-D. The model has been compared to both the commercial tool PVSYST 4.1 and to empirical measurements on PV systems in the Swedish climate. The conclusion is that the performance of the developed model is similar to that of the commercial tool, although more in-depth analyses and extensive fine tuning of parameters can be done in PVSYST. The annual production and performance ratio of a typical system in the model is close to the production and average performance of a set of measured Swedish PV test systems. The model structure was implemented in the object-oriented programming language Java SE 6 with Java Web Start, which enables the creation of a platform-independent application with a graphical user interface that can be started from a web site without any requirements on local Java installations. The implemented model is with few exceptions identical to the one that was tested in Matlab. This application will be publicly available on the Elforsk website. In the report, the application is used to show how one small-scale and one large-scale system can be modeled and analysed}
place = {Sweden}
year = {2011}
month = {Jan}
}
title = {Model for economic optimization of solar power plants; Beraekningsmodell foer ekonomisk optimering av solelanlaeggningar}
author = {Widen, Joakim}
abstractNote = {This is the final report from a project in which an early-design-phase tool for photovoltaic (PV) systems has been developed. The aim of the tool is to provide a quick and easy way to estimate the electricity production and the economy of a PV system. Although it is effective and easy to use, the model takes into account all the important factors that affect the design, performance and economy of a system, and makes it possible with more in-depth analyses as well. The intended users of the tool are both electricity end-users thinking on investing in a small-scale system and large investors planning in an early project phase for large-scale PV systems. The developed tool is a simulation tool rather than an optimization tool. However, as the model is efficient and simple to use, it is easy to vary parameters and input data in different scenarios to arrive at an optimal solution. In order for the tool to realistically estimate the load matching of a PV system, which depends on seasonal and diurnal variations in both load and production profiles, the computations are made on an hourly basis. An hourly resolution is the most common one in meteorological data and to increase the resolution further is neither practically possible nor required for accuracy. The hourly irradiation data used in the model were collected from the publicly available STRAaNG database, which is maintained by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). Idealized hourly load profiles for typical Swedish end-user categories are also included in the tool. A general computational model was implemented in Matlab, which provided easy testing, visualization and validation of the model. The computations involved can be summarized in four main steps: 1 Radiation computations. This involves a transposition of radiation components to the tilted plane of the PV array. The model takes the orientation of the system into account and uses assumed albedo values of the surroundings to add ground-reflected radiation. 2 PV system simulations. A simplified model of the PV system, including different loss mechanisms, is used to convert incident radiation to a power output from the system inverter. 3 Electricity use and load matching analyses. The interaction with the electricity distribution grid is determined from the power production and load profiles. 4 Economical analysis. The economy of the system is determined from the load matching analysis and depends on system costs, subsidies and different debiting and net metering alternatives. The exact model computations are summarized in Appendix A-D. The model has been compared to both the commercial tool PVSYST 4.1 and to empirical measurements on PV systems in the Swedish climate. The conclusion is that the performance of the developed model is similar to that of the commercial tool, although more in-depth analyses and extensive fine tuning of parameters can be done in PVSYST. The annual production and performance ratio of a typical system in the model is close to the production and average performance of a set of measured Swedish PV test systems. The model structure was implemented in the object-oriented programming language Java SE 6 with Java Web Start, which enables the creation of a platform-independent application with a graphical user interface that can be started from a web site without any requirements on local Java installations. The implemented model is with few exceptions identical to the one that was tested in Matlab. This application will be publicly available on the Elforsk website. In the report, the application is used to show how one small-scale and one large-scale system can be modeled and analysed}
place = {Sweden}
year = {2011}
month = {Jan}
}