Use Conditions and Efficiency Measurements of DC Power Optimizers for Photovoltaic Systems
No consensus standard exists for estimating annual conversion efficiency of DC-DC converters or power optimizers in photovoltaic (PV) applications. The performance benefits of PV power electronics including per-panel DC-DC converters depend in large part on the operating conditions of the PV system, along with the performance characteristics of the power optimizer itself. This work presents acase study of three system configurations that take advantage of the capabilities of DC power optimizers. Measured conversion efficiencies of DC-DC converters are applied to these scenarios to determine the annual weighted operating efficiency. A simplified general method of reporting weighted efficiency is given, based on the California Energy Commission's CEC efficiency rating and severalinput / output voltage ratios. Efficiency measurements of commercial power optimizer products are presented using the new performance metric, along with a description of the limitations of the approach.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1260925
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-5200-59214
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), Vol. 2013; Conference: Presented at the IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Expo 2013, Denver, CO (United States), 15-19 Sep 2013; ISSN 2329-3721
- Publisher:
- IEEE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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