Photovoltaic Plant Production Calculation (Spain)

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PRODUCTION CALCULATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC PLANT IN CADIZ

MEP-PROJECTS is carrying out the production study of a photovoltaic plant located in the province of Cadiz. This photovoltaic plant has an installed power of 40 MWp and a nominal power of 36 MWn.

The basic characteristics of the photovoltaic installation are:

Once the characteristics of the photovoltaic plant and the location have been defined, using the Pvsyst software, plant production simulations can be performed to study the operation of the plant and its annual production, in order to observe the viability of the photovoltaic plant.

These characteristics must be indicated within the software to perform the production calculations, as shown in the following image:

Image 1. PVsyst system configuration

On the other hand, the software needs the input of the layout of the photovoltaic modules in the plant, as well as their inclination, height above ground, etc. For this purpose, an export of the implementation to the PVsyst software is used, where the modules are represented indicating their height, position, degree of inclination, etc., as well as the terrain data.

With this data, the software will be able to simulate the radiation and shading that occur in the plant during a complete year.

Image 2.  Implantation of photovoltaic modules 

Once the characteristics and parameters of the system have been defined and all the modules have been placed in the implementation, a simulation of the plant operation is carried out using a meteorological model of radiation in the area where the plant is to be implemented. This simulation studies the production of the plant taking into account the climatological factors, giving as results the Energy produced, the performance of the plant, and the values of the different losses that exist in the photovoltaic plant.

The following image shows the specific production normalized by months and the yield ratio (PR) of the plant for all the months of the year.

Imagen 3. Simulation Results

With the results obtained after the simulation we can find out if the configuration and the elements chosen for the PV plant design are good at the production level, thus providing a favorable or unfavorable view of the feasibility of the PV plant construction.

These simulations are also performed to adjust different parameters of the plant, such as the pitch between strings, number of panels in series/parallel, tilt degrees, etc., and evaluate different options in order to improve the performance of the plant.