Title

Enhancing Smart Grid realisation with accurate prediction of photovoltaic performance based on weather forecast

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2013

Publication Title

International Journal of Environmental Studies

Volume

70

Issue

5

First Page

754

Keywords

Cell efficiency, Cell temperature, NOCT, PV

Last Page

764

Abstract

The energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panels depends on solar irradiance and cell temperature. The cell temperature is affected by ambient and sky temperature, wind speed and direction, in addition to solar irradiance. This study summarises relevant relationships in the literature and describes a method of calculating cell temperature and efficiency, based only on field-measured solar irradiance, ambient temperature and wind speed. These equations have been applied to a 500 kW PV site on a typical spring day and all results were within 1.6% of measured values, with an average error of 0.05%. This provides a predictive capability for solar PV to be efficiently integrated into a Smart Grid. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

DOI

10.1080/00207233.2013.798497

ISSN

00207233

E-ISSN

10290400

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