Your browser does not support JavaScript!
http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com
1887

access icon openaccess Three years experience in a Dutch public awareness campaign on photovoltaic system performance

This is an open access article published by the IET under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
Received 12/01/2017, Accepted 05/05/2017, Revised 06/04/2017, Published 11/05/2017

To raise awareness on the importance of monitoring photovoltaic (PV) systems in the Netherlands, a public campaign was organised in three consecutive years. During 1 week in the spring of 2014, 2015, and 2016, as part of the Dutch Solar Days, participants were asked to measure or determine the amount of energy generated by their PV systems. All in all over 8000 participants were recruited via social media and a national television show. This study analyses the variation of weekly yield and performance ratio (PR) of the systems of the participants for 3 years. On average, for each year, a PR was found of 0.74 with a left-skewed distribution, indicating that most systems perform well. Further analysis was made, which showed the ineffectiveness of an undersized inverter in low radiation conditions. It was also found that the performance difference between mono- and multicrystalline silicon panels was small, and that micro-inverters are effective in reaching high performance for PV systems that suffer from shading. Generally, this work demonstrated the usefulness of citizen science approaches in PV system performance analysis.

Inspec keywords: power system measurement; invertors; silicon; photovoltaic power systems; elemental semiconductors

Other keywords: Dutch solar day; PV system; PR; monocrystalline silicon panel; time 3 year; multicrystalline silicon panel; microinverter; Dutch public awareness campaign; photovoltaic system; left-skewed distribution; Netherlands; Si; time 1 week; power system monitoring; performance ratio

Subjects: Solar power stations and photovoltaic power systems; Power system measurement and metering; DC-AC power convertors (invertors)

References

    1. 1)
      • 13. KNMI: ‘Hourly station data’. Available at http://knmi.nl/nederland-nu/klimatologie/uurgegevens, accessed December 2016.
    2. 2)
      • 21. Sinapis, K., Tzikas, C., Litjens, G., et al: ‘A comprehensive study on partial shading response of c-Si modules and yield modeling of string inverter and module level power electronics’, Sol. Energy, 2016, 135, pp. 731–741.
    3. 3)
      • 15. Muzathik, M., Ibrahim, M.Z., Samo, K.B., et al: ‘Estimation of global solar irradiation on horizontal and inclined surfaces based on the horizontal measurements’, Energy, 2011, 36, pp. 812–818.
    4. 4)
      • 8. Hand, E.: ‘Citizen science: people power’, Nature, 2010, 466, pp. 685–687.
    5. 5)
      • 6. Colantuono, G., Everard, A., Hall, L.M.H., et al: ‘Monitoring nationwide ensembles of PV generators: limitations and uncertainties. The case of the UK’, Sol. Energy, 2014, 108, pp. 252–263.
    6. 6)
      • 22. IEA-PVPS: ‘Task 13 performance and reliability of photovoltaic systems’. Available at http://iea-pvps.org/index.php?id=57, accessed December 2016.
    7. 7)
      • 14. Olmo, F.J., Vida, J., Foyo, I., et al: ‘Prediction of global irradiance on inclined surfaces from horizontal global irradiance’, Energy, 1999, 24, pp. 689–704.
    8. 8)
      • 19. Moraitis, P., Kausika, B.B., Van Sark, W.G.J.H.M.: ‘Visualization of operational performance of grid-connected PV systems in selected European countries’. 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conf., PVSC 2015, 2015.
    9. 9)
      • 11. Reich, N.H., Mueller, B., Armbruster, A., et al: ‘Performance ratio revisited: is PR > 90% realistic?’, Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl., 2012, 20, (6), pp. 717–726.
    10. 10)
      • 7. Leloux, J., Taylor, J., Moretón, R., et al: ‘Monitoring 30,000 PV systems in Europe: performance, faults, and state of the art’. 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conf. (WIP-Renewable Energies, 2015), pp. 1574–1582.
    11. 11)
      • 18. Hintze, J.L., Nelson, R.D.: ‘Violin plots: a box plot-density trace synergism’, Am. Stat., 1998, 52, pp. 181–184.
    12. 12)
      • 17. Burger, B., Rüther, R.: ‘Inverter sizing of grid-connected photovoltaic systems in the light of local solar resource distribution characteristics and temperature’, Sol. Energy, 2006, 80, pp. 32–45.
    13. 13)
      • 9. Moraitis, P., Van Sark, W.G.J.H.M.: ‘Operational performance of grid-connected PV systems’. 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conf., PVSC 2014, 2014, pp. 1953–1956.
    14. 14)
      • 12. International Electrotechnical Commission: ‘IEC 61274, photovoltaics system performance monitoring – guidelines for measurement, data exchange and analysis’. 1998.
    15. 15)
      • 20. Peel, M.C., Finlayson, B.L., McMahon, T.A.: ‘Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification’, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 2007, 11, pp. 1633–1644.
    16. 16)
      • 4. Ueda, Y., Kurokawa, K., Kitamura, K., et al: ‘Performance analysis of various system configurations on grid-connected residential PV systems’, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 2009, 93, pp. 945–949.
    17. 17)
      • 1. CBS: ‘Statline’, 2016.
    18. 18)
      • 10. van Sark, W.G.J.H.M., ’t Hart, S., De Jong, M.M., et al: ‘Counting the Sun – a Dutch public awareness campaign on PV performance’. 29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conf., 2014, pp. 4161–4164.
    19. 19)
      • 5. Leloux, J., Narvarte, L., Trebosc, D.: ‘Review of the performance of residential PV systems in France’, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., 2012, 16, pp. 1369–1376.
    20. 20)
      • 2. Van Sark, W.G.J.H.M., Muizebelt, P., Cace, J., et al: ‘Price development of photovoltaic modules, inverters, and systems in the Netherlands in 2012’, Renew. Energy, 2014, 71, pp. 18–22.
    21. 21)
      • 3. Decker, B., Jahn, U.: ‘Performance of 170 grid connected PV plants in Northern Germany – analysis of yields and optimization potentials’, Sol. Energy, 1997, 59, pp. 127–133.
    22. 22)
      • 16. van Sark, W.G.J.H.M., Muizebelt, P., Cace, J., et al: ‘Photovoltaic market development in the Netherlands – 2013, the year of price stabilization’. 29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conf. (WIP-Renewable Energies, 2014), pp. 4059–4061.
http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/iet-rpg.2016.1037
Loading

Related content

content/journals/10.1049/iet-rpg.2016.1037
pub_keyword,iet_inspecKeyword,pub_concept
6
6
Loading
Print this page
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address