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Photovoltaic System Integration
Photovoltaic System Integration
Omar Hamdan
October 2012
Synopsis
This thesis is divided in a way to permit the reader to follow the content in a
logical sequence.
The thesis presents a piece of work to calculate the power output of the
photovoltaic system in hand calculations and software simulation.
The thesis will evaluate the location of the installation by means of radiation
falls on the location, construction of the photovoltaic system, sizing the system by
evaluate the options according to area available and capital cost.
The hand calculation will present a model develop on excel to calculate the
power output by calculating the solar irradiances on a tilted surface, converting the
irradiances to electrical power and considering the effect of temperature on
photovoltaic cells.
The simulation part will present an entire design of the system by means of
calculating the power output, losses associated with the conversion process and
connection, shade study and result analysis
The sizing of the system was carried out through hand calculation, simulation
and economical analysis. Finally an economical evaluation for many models will be
presented.
Table of Contents
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... VI
List of Tables............................................................................................................................... VIII
List of Equations ........................................................................................................................... IX
Chapter One .................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.0 Building Integrated PV System .............................................................................................. 5
1.3.0 Solar Radiation and Solar Constant ....................................................................................... 7
1.4.0 Geometrical Considerations: ................................................................................................. 8
1.4.1 The Declination angle............................................................................................................ 9
1.4.2 Solar Hour Angle ................................................................................................................... 9
1.4.3 The Latitude angle .............................................................................................................. 10
1.4.4 The Sunset Hour angle ........................................................................................................ 10
1.4.5 Slope Angle ......................................................................................................................... 10
1.4.6 Surface Azimuth angle ........................................................................................................ 10
1.4.7 Angle of Incident ................................................................................................................. 10
1.4.8 Zenith Angle........................................................................................................................ 11
1.5.0 Solar Radiations reaches a specific tilted surface ................................................................. 11
1.5.1 Clearness Index: .................................................................................................................. 12
1.5.2 Calculating of Hourly Global and Diffused Irradiance ........................................................... 12
Chapter Two ................................................................................................................................ 15
2.1.0 System Components ........................................................................................................... 16
2.1.1 Solar Cell Basics: ................................................................................................................. 16
2.1.2 Light characteristics ............................................................................................................ 17
2.1.3 Electrical Characteristics of a PV-Cell: .................................................................................. 18
2.1.4 Voltage and Current in PV Plant .......................................................................................... 21
2.2.0 Electrical Power Output: ..................................................................................................... 22
2.3.0 Components Selection PV panel .......................................................................................... 23
2.3.1 PV Panel Selection Methodology ......................................................................................... 24
2.3.2 Chosen Panel ...................................................................................................................... 24
2.4.0 Inverter and Control............................................................................................................ 26
2.4.1 Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT): ............................................................................ 26
2.4.2 Connection of Inverter to Array........................................................................................... 26
2.4.3 Inverter, process and Functions .......................................................................................... 28
List of Figures
Figure 1: GHG and CO2 emissions by sector. (EC, 2010) ...................................................................... 3
Figure 2: Electricity consumptions by Sector. (DECC, 2009) ................................................................ 4
Figure 3: Electrical PV generation (European commission, 2010) ....................................................... 5
Figure 4: Grid-connected photovoltaic system. (Luque and Hegedus, 2011). ...................................... 6
Figure 5: Earth Positions around the sun (Scharmer, 2000) ................................................................ 8
Figure 6: Solar Geometry Angles (Duffie and Beckman, 2006). ......................................................... 11
Figure 7: Schematic of a solar cell. The solid white lines indicate the conduction and valence bands of
the semiconductor layers; the dotted white lines indicate the Fermi level in the dark. .................... 16
Figure 8: Light wavelength ranges ................................................................................................... 18
Figure 9 Equivalent circuit of Photovoltaic ....................................................................................... 19
Figure 10 Voltage-Current characteristics example (ABB, 2010) ....................................................... 20
Figure 11 Selected Panel Dimensions ............................................................................................... 25
Figure 12 photovoltaic panel curves with different irradiances. ....................................................... 25
Figure 13 typical circuit used in PV inverters. ................................................................................... 28
Figure 14 inverter combination ....................................................................................................... 32
Figure 15 PWM DC to AC process .................................................................................................... 32
Figure 16 By-Pass diode under shading ............................................................................................ 33
Figure 17 system demand in kW ...................................................................................................... 37
Figure 18 Day Length for each month .............................................................................................. 47
Figure 19 Clearness Index and the diffused radiation ratio ............................................................... 47
Figure 20 total irradiance on a tilted surface per hour for each month............................................. 49
Figure 21 total estimated electrical output per hour each month. ................................................... 51
Figure 22 The monthly production of the system ............................................................................. 51
Figure 23 Roof Top of the Location. ................................................................................................. 52
Figure 24 calculating the area of shade effect .................................................................................. 54
Figure 25 Monthly Percentage of the total demand when maximum power produced. ................... 56
Figure 26 Percentage of the Supply to the Demand ......................................................................... 58
Figure 27 Monthly Demand Vs. Production. ..................................................................................... 58
Figure 28 Program's first interface page .......................................................................................... 61
Figure 29 Site data entry. ................................................................................................................. 62
Figure 30 mutual shading Visualisation/optimisation ....................................................................... 63
Figure 31 Sun Path and Mutual shading. .......................................................................................... 63
Figure 32 Preliminary Power Output, Horizontal and tilt surface comparison. .................................. 64
Figure 33 Near Shading design tool interface ................................................................................... 64
Figure 34 building a new object to simulate the shading .................................................................. 65
Figure 35 the final built structure. ................................................................................................... 66
Figure 36 PV panels build user interface. ......................................................................................... 66
Figure 37 Final system before the shade simulation......................................................................... 67
Figure 38 Top View, photovoltaic generator position ....................................................................... 68
Figure 39 Shading process ............................................................................................................... 68
Figure 40 shading when the system is placed at the eastern side of the building. ............................ 69
Figure 41 shading when the system is placed at the western side of the building............................. 70
Figure 42 System Design interface ................................................................................................... 72
Figure 43 Array power optimisation graph. ...................................................................................... 72
List of Tables
List of Equations
Equation 1 Extraterrestrial Radiation ................................................................................................. 8
Equation 2 Declination Angle ............................................................................................................. 9
Equation 3 Solar Time ........................................................................................................................ 9
Equation 4 E value. ............................................................................................................................ 9
Equation 5 Sunset Hour Angle ......................................................................................................... 10
Equation 6 Incident Angle ................................................................................................................ 10
Equation 7 Zenith Angle .................................................................................................................. 11
Equation 8 Clearness Index .............................................................................................................. 12
Equation 9 global Hourly irradiance on horizontal surface ............................................................... 12
Equation 10 Diffused Radiation Ratio ws ≤ 81.4˚ ............................................................................... 13
Equation 11 Diffused Radiation Ratio ws > 81.4˚ ............................................................................... 13
Equation 12 Average Daily irradiance .............................................................................................. 13
Equation 13 rt ratio ......................................................................................................................... 13
Equation 14 constant a .................................................................................................................... 13
Equation 15 constant b .................................................................................................................... 13
Equation 16 Diffused irradiance ....................................................................................................... 13
Equation 17 Beam irradiance ........................................................................................................... 14
Equation 18 rd ratio......................................................................................................................... 14
Equation 19 Total irradiance on tilted surface.................................................................................. 14
Equation 20 Rb Value ....................................................................................................................... 14
Equation 21 Photon Energy ............................................................................................................. 17
Equation 22 Atmospheric Mass ....................................................................................................... 18
Equation 23 Diode current............................................................................................................... 19
Equation 24 current delivered by the photovoltaic panel ................................................................. 19
Equation 25 Filling Factor ................................................................................................................ 21
Equation 26 Cell temperature effect on the cell Efficiency ............................................................... 22
Equation 27 Ambient temperature relation with the cell temperature ............................................ 22
Equation 28 tilt angle correction factor for the cell temperature ..................................................... 22
Equation 29 Energy supplied to the building and the electrical grid ................................................. 23
Chapter One
1.1 Introduction
Since the first public power distribution system was developed, in 1882, by the
famous Thomas Edison, our modern life style started to shape. Electricity made a
shift for human history, bringing all life’s modern luxuries into being (Chapman,
2005). Before electricity became available over 100 years ago, houses were lit with
kerosene lamps, food was cooled in iceboxes, and wood-burning or coal-burning
stoves warmed rooms. In other words, Electricity has changed that and become a
key driver in our modern life development.
Electrical power generation started in the form of cool power plants using
Steam turbines to drive Direct Current generators. That was followed by huge
developments in electrical power generation methods. Combined cycle power plant,
Nuclear Power Plant and Hydroelectric Power Plant are the latest forms of power
generation methods. Although those types of power plants are considered to have
high reliability and low loss of load probability (LOLP) fraction, they still suffer from
many major issues threatening the globe indirectly, by increasing Green House
Gases (GHG), and increasing the availability of some types of fuel, which might not
be available for all nations, either now or in the future.
Residential Buildings contribute in a large way to the total GHG and CO2
emissions. In the UK, residential CO2 and GHG emissions are 14% and 12%
respectively. The commercial institutions contribute in 3.8% and 3.2% (European
Commission, 2010). Figure (1) illustrates GHG and CO2 emissions by each sector.
As well, Domestic and household consumption of electricity represents 32% of the
total electricity generation, while the commercial sector consumes 19% of the total
electricity produced. (DECC, 2010). Refer to Figure (2).
Consequently, it is important to
consider better solutions for residential
sector electricity production. If the
nineteenth century was the age of coal
and the twenty century is the age of oil,
then definitely the twenty one century is
the age of sun and solar power. Building
Integrated PV system (BIPV) considered
being one of most efficient solutions. PV
system integration in buildings can
overcome all the above problems and
achieve most of the required objectives to Figure 2: Electricity consumptions by Sector. (DECC,
2009)
certain extend.
On the other hand, the UK electricity production using solar cell has increased
dramatically. The total production in 2005 is 10.9 MW; this number has jumped in
2011 to be 975.8 MW (DECC, 2012). This is an indication on how promising is the
photovoltaic market is. The total consumption of electricity from photovoltaic in 1999
used to be only 1000 MWh this number has increase along the decade to be 11000
MWh in 2007. Figure (3) shows the increase along nine years (European
Commission, 2010)
10 11
8
3 4 3 4
1 1
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
There are several reasons for the great interest in PV systems in buildings. Its
image as a high-tech and its futuristic technology makes it more interesting for
engineers, architect and consumers. As well, integration of PV is technically simple
to install compared with other solar technologies such as solar thermal (Fieber A.,
2005). Furthermore, the price of PV panel integration in building is economically
attractive where its profit expectation is promising.
A roof or façade element with photovoltaic can be used in all kind of building's
structures, curtain wall façade (with isolating glass), rear vented curtain wall façade ,
structural glazing and tilted façade . It is expected from the photovoltaic system to
cover day lighting, reduce the noise and produce electricity (Benemann J. Et al,
2001). While Thomas R. and Fordham M. argued (2001) that the reasons of why
Photovoltaic is attractive technology is that using it includes supplying all, or most
likely the largest portion, of the annual electricity requirement of a building, making a
contribution to the environment, making a statement about innovative architectural
The PV system integrated into a building would not need a storage system,
batteries; since the storage system is normally used to supply the load during the
night hours or when there is not enough radiation to produce electricity into the PV
panels. In this case, the national grid will act as a storage system (Luque and
Hegedus, 2011). Figure (4) illustrates a basic grid connected (On-Grid) schematic of
PV system. More details about each component of the system are presented later;
specifically on PV cell, module and array and on the conditioning system (inverter).
To explain how the solar system does work, it is important to describe the
nature of the sun light and the radiations that fall on earth's surface. As well, a short
introduction about the sun and earth position should be presented to be able to
elucidate sunlight, radiation analysis and solar system.
The sun is a sphere containing hot gaseous matter and has a diameter of
1.39 x 109 m. On average, the earth is 1.5 x 10 11 meter away from the sun. This
distance equals about 12000 times the earth's diameter. The earth revolves around
the sun in an elliptical unusual orbit that varies the distance between the sun and the
earth by 1.7%. The day of the closest approach in the northern hemisphere is known
as Perihelion and occurs on the 2nd of January, whilst on 2nd of July, the earth is at
its greatest distance from the sun, this distance is known as Aphelion, see Figure (5)
(Scharmer, 2000). The sun has an effective blackbody temperature of 5777 K. The
radiation emitted by the sun and its spatial relationship to the earth result in a nearly
fixed intensity of solar radiation outside the earth's atmosphere, often referred to as
extraterrestrial radiation. The extraterrestrial radiation's values, referred to as solar
constant, found in the literature vary slightly due to the measurement techniques or
assumptions for necessary estimations. The World Radiation Centre (WRC) has
adopted a value of 1367 W/m2, with 1% uncertainty (IEA, 1996).
The Solar Radiation outside the earth's atmosphere changes throughout the
year due to the change in the distance from the sun and the rotation of earth around
its axis. The solar radiation outside the atmosphere is then calculated depending on
the eccentricity correction factor ( ) and the day of the year (Luque and Hegedus,
2011). According to (Duffie and Beckman, 2006), depends on the distance of the
earth from the sun, which will vary by ± 1.7% of its mean value , which is equal to
11
1.495×10 m. A simple equation for engineering proposes combines the change in
the day and distance and defines the solar radiation outside the earth's atmosphere
as following:
Where
Gsc: solar constant, 1367 W/m2.
n: is the day number of the year.
It is the key input for the solar geometry. It is defined by (UNESCO and NELP,
1978) as "the angle between the Equatorial Plane and the line joining the centre of
the Earth's sphere to the centre of the solar disk. The axis of rotation of the Earth
about the poles is set at an angle to that so called Plane of the Ecliptic. "The angle
varies along the Julian days between 23.45˚ and -23.45˚. The following equation
relates to the declination angle and the day number n, along the year.
According to (PEN, 2012), is the angular displacement of the sun east and
west of the local meridian. It changes 1˚ each for minutes and 15˚ each hour. It
changes 15˚ each hour after the solar noon and -15 each hour before the solar noon.
The solar noon corresponds to the moment when the sun at the highest point in the
sky. So the solar noon does not depend on the local time but on the solar time. The
solar time can be found as following:
Where Lst is the standard meridian for the local time zone, L loc is the longitude
of the specific location in degree. E is the equation of time in minutes which equals
to:
Equation 4 E value.
It is the angular location north of the equator as positive and south of the
equator as negative. Its values range between -90˚ and +90˚.
This is the tilt angle where the Photovoltaic panel or array is tilted from the
horizontal. Generally, as a rule of thumb, to collect maximum annual energy, a
surface slope angle should be adjusted to be equal to the latitude angle. For the
summer maximum energy gain, slope angle should be approximately 10˚ to 15˚ less
than the latitude and for the winter, maximum energy gain can be acquired when the
angle is adjusted to be 10˚ to 15˚ more than the latitude. (Duffie and Beckman,
2006).
This is the angle between the beam radiation on a surface and the normal to
that surface. It can be calculated as follows:
It is the angle between the vertical of the sun and the incident solar beam. Its value
must be between 0˚ and 90˚. For a horizontal surface the zenith angle can be
calculated using the following equation.
The following figure (6) illustrates the angles on a tilted surface. Please note
that the previous equations will be implemented in a hand calculation for the total
power output of the proposed system, later in this paper. The calculation will be done
using Microsoft Excel.
The directions from which solar radiation reaches a specific tilted surface are
a dependent on conditions of cloudiness and atmospheric clarity (Duffie and
Beckman, 2006). Those radiations are considered to be distributed over the sky
dome. In general, the data of cloudiness and clarity are widely available.
In this paper radiations have been dealt with as three parts; Beam radiation,
Diffused radiations and Ground reflected or what is known as Albedo. The beam
radiations are the amount of radiations that have been received on a specific surface
without scattering; it will be represented as H b. The diffused radiations are those
radiations, which their direction have been changed before they receive a specific
surface. Finally, the ground reflected radiations are the radiations received on a
specific surface after they have been reflected from the ground.
For :
The average daily irradiance is now broken into hourly values. To do so, the
equation developed by Collares-Pereira is used in the calculations. The formulas are
as following:
Where is:
Equation 13 rt ratio
Equation 14 constant a
Equation 15 constant b
Note that the values of sunset angle and the hour angles are in radians. Then
the values of both the diffused and the Beam irradiances can be calculated as
follows:
Equation 18 rd ratio
Where:
Equation 20 Rb Value
Chapter Two
Figure 7: Schematic of a solar cell. The solid white lines indicate the conduction and valence bands of the semiconductor
layers; the dotted white lines indicate the Fermi level in the dark.
The sunlight spectral is divided into three regions see figure (8). The first
region has a wavelength between 400 to 700 nanometres. At 700 nanometres, the
visible spectrum appears red and on the shorter end of 400 nanometres it appears
violate. All other colours appear in between. Our eyes are most sensitive to the
spectrum around 500 nanometres. At 400 nanometres and less, the spectrum is
called Ultraviolet (UV) wavelength and most of it is filtered or absorbed by the Ozone
or the transparent material before it reaches the earth's surface. Our skin perceives
the spectrum as radiant heat spectrums above 700 nanometres, which is referred to
as Infrared (Clark and Eckert, 1975). The water vapour, CO2 and other substances in
our atmosphere absorb most of the Infrared spectrums. On the other hand, Most of
those absorptions become longer wavelengths than the wavelengths the solar
system uses. While the solar system effectively collects wavelengths less than 2000
nanometres, thus its efficiency is not significantly affected (Duffie and Beckman,
2006). Photon's energy can be calculated as follows:
As well as this, the energy held by a photon is affected by Air Mass. The Air
Mass is the path length which light takes through the atmosphere normalized to the
shortest possible path length (the shortest path is when the sun is directly overhead).
The Air Mass quantifies the reduction in the energy of light as it passes through the
atmosphere and is absorbed by air, dust, ozone (O3), carbon dioxide (CO2), and
water vapour (H2O) with the last three having a high absorption for photons that have
energies close to their bond energies. The air mass (AM) is defined using the
following equation (noting that is defined later in this paper):
The shunt resistance Rsh takes into account the current to earth under normal
operational conditions. In an ideal cell the values of Rs is zero while the value of Rsh
is maximum. On the contrary, in a high-quality silicon cell the typical value of Rs is
around five milliohm and the shunt resistance is around 285 ohm. The conversion
The no-load voltage Voc, open circuit voltage, occurs when the load does not
absorb any current, i.e. IL equals zero, thus according to ohms law, the open circuit
voltage will be the current passing through the shunt resistance, times the shunt
resistance Voc =IshRsh (Luque and Hegedus, 2011)
In addition, the diode current is given by the classical formula for the direct
current:
determined experimentally by applying the open circuit voltage Voc in the dark (when
Iph is zero) and measuring the current going into the cell. This current is usually
referred to as the dark current or the reverse diode-saturation current. (Mukund R.
P., 1999).
It should be pointed that all those data can be found in the manufacturer data
sheet. Most of the information is experimentally distinguished. There are some
methods to calculate the series resistance value but it will not be needed in this
paper, thus it will not be presented.
Where is the temperature coefficient for the module efficiency and and
are the efficiency and the temperature of the panel under the Standard Testing
Conditions (STC). Normally the testing temperature is equal to 25C˚. In addition, the
standard testing conditions will define the Nominal Operating Cell Temperature
NOCT. NOCT values normally ranges from 42C˚ to 46C˚ (Luque and Hegedus,
2011). The average module temperature T c is related to the mean monthly ambient
temperature through the following equation, which had been developed by Evans in
1981 (Duffie and Beckman, 2006):
Furthermore, the equation above is valid when the tilting angle is equal to the
latitude angle minus the declination angle, when the tilt angle is different, then the
right side of the equation has be multiplied by a correction factor defined as C f.
(RETScreen International, 2005). It can be found using the following equation:
Where sM is equal to the latitude angle minus the declination angle and s is
the current tilt angle.
On the other hand, STC efficiency will vary for each type of module. In
general, the efficiency values range between 5%, for example for a module of a-Si
type, up to about 15%, for example a mono-crystalline silicon module.
Finally, the power output of the PV generator can be defined as the total reached
irradiances multiplied by the final efficiency and the total area used S. The
equation can be shown below:
In later sections, a method to calculate the power output will be presented and
illustrated systematically giving one example of the whole system. The codes and
work sheet of the hand model can be found in the appendix A.
There are many kinds of photovoltaic panels which vary in material used,
technology, manufacturing process and size. Looking into the features of each panel
then comparing it with its price and its installation cost can be a very difficult process,
especially if the life time of the PV panel, warranty, market availability and efficiency
are taken into account as well. Therefore, the selection process can be narrowed by
specifying the priority features needed in the panel.
Additional data about the panel which might be useful for the installer:
for ten years and an 80% for twenty five years. Therefore, it will be possible to
extend the project life time to twenty five years. (A detailed data sheet is attached in
appendix C for the reader to refer to if needed).
The first method is a single inverter plant, which might consist of single or
several strings; a string is a connection of many modules to form one DC output,
positive wire and negative wire. The single inverter plant implies that the rating of
both the PV generator and the inverter required is relatively small. This method has
many advantages in terms of lower investment cost and low maintenance; but on the
other hand, using one inverter will reduce the reliability of the system since a total
stoppage of power production will occur in case of inverter failure. In addition, this
solution is not suitable for increasing the size of the system, since these increases
the problems of protection against over currents and the problems deriving from
different shading that is when the exposition of the panels is not the same in the
whole plant (Esram and Chapman, 2007).
The second method is to have many strings with an inverter for each string. In
this layout, the blocking diode will prevent the source direction from being reversed;
it is usually included in the inverter. The diagnosis on production is carried out
directly by the inverter, which in addition can provide protection against the over-
current and under-voltage on the DC side. Moreover, having an inverter on each
string will reduce the coupling problems between the modules and inverters and the
reduction of the performances caused by shading or different exposition. Again, in
different strings, modules with different characteristics may be used, thus increasing
the efficiency and reliability of the whole plant. (Esram and Chapman, 2007).
form. The controller will trigger one of the transistors in a process and will form three
phase AC power. Each of the phases is shifted by 120˚ electrical degree.
Furthermore, in this process the inverter is able to vary the voltage and
frequency at the output. For the case of building integration, the frequency required
to be fixed to either 50 Hz in the UK or 60 Hz in other places. On the other hand, the
inverter need to be able to cope with the variation in the voltage level, hence the PV
generator, relatively, does not have a fixed voltage. The voltage variation can be due
to the change in the temperature of the cell or due to the voltage drop caused by the
resistance of wiring.
The output wave ought to be filtered to lower the effect of any ripples or
harmonics, which might be caused during the conversion process.
The inverter type chosen for this project is going to be able to handle the
whole system solely, since the system size is relatively small compared other
projects. After considering many aspects the system's voltage and current have been
stated. Hence, the voltage rating is also known. The system voltage is ranging
between 540 V and 576 V, 576 V to be the maximum power point voltage. Now, the
options to choose an inverter, are narrowed, due to the fact that only the inverters
have voltages around this range. ±25% of the maximum and the minimum voltage
are considered as a good estimation because a margin of variation above or below
the maximum or the minimum level must be considered. Finally, the market
availability, quality guarantee and the cost should be taken into account.
2.4.5 Summary
In summary, the selection of the inverter, depending on size, is carried out
according to the PV array rated power that the inverter should manage. The size of
the inverter can be determined, from 0.8 to 0.9 for the ratio between the active power
delivered to the network and the PV generator. This ratio considers the power under
real operational conditions (working temperature, voltage drops on the electrical
connection...etc) in addition to the efficiency of the inverter itself.
Finally, the choice of correct size, for the inverter, must be done by taking the
following considerations:
- DC Side:
- AC Side:
- Other:
Market availability
Life time
Cost
2.5.0 Shading:
Taking into consideration the area occupied by the modules of a PV plant,
part of them (one or more cells) may be shaded by trees, fallen leaves, chimneys,
clouds or by PV panels installed nearby. In the case of shading, a PV cell consisting
in a junction P-N stops producing energy and becomes a passive load. This cell
behaves as a diode, which blocks the current produced by the other cells connected
in series, thus jeopardizing the whole production of the module (Seung-Ho and Eun-
Tack, 2002). Moreover the diode is subject to the voltage of the other cells which
may cause the perforation of the junction due to localized overheating (hot spot) and
damages to the module. In order to avoid that one or more shaded cells prevent the
production of a whole string, some diodes which by-pass the shaded or damaged
part of module are inserted at the module level. Thus, the functioning of the module
is guaranteed even if with reduced efficiency. In theory, it would be necessary to
insert a by-pass diode in parallel to each single cell, but this would be too onerous
for the ratio costs/benefits. Therefore, by-pass diodes are usually installed for each
module (Kajihara and Harakawa, 2005). See figure 16
Chapter Three
The first section will describe the hand calculation of the system. The
calculation will use one day, as an example to demonstrate the method. Starting with
only one monthly value, for each month, the hand calculation will find the hourly
estimated power output throughout the day, then, the estimated daily total kWh that
can be produced. It is important to note that the hand calculation does not consider
the system losses, since it is going to be considered in the simulation more precisely.
The simulation will be produced using PVsyst, as quoted from the user help
booklet of the program, "PVsyst is a PC software package for the study, sizing and
data analysis of complete PV systems. It deals with grid-connected, stand-alone,
pumping and DC-grid (public transport) PV systems, and includes extensive
meteorological and PV systems components databases, as well as general solar
energy tools."(PVsyst., 2012) Comparison between both calculations will be
presented.
The main objective of the project is to, fully or partially; supply the facility’s
electrical demand throughout the year. This will be done by:
This chapter:
- Calculating the system demand and electric system review,
- Calculating the hourly solar radiation on the system,
Next Chapters:
- Calculating the monthly power production, losses and shading effect using a
simulating program,
- Electrical consideration and power layout,
- Economical Evaluation of the project,
- Comparison of the hand calculation and the simulation results,
The integration of a PV system with a building will be carried out while carefully
considering all the aspects.
Similar to all the building's systems in the UK, the facility has 240 Volt/ 50 Hz
electrical systems, which will be supplied through a three phase main incomer
connected on the main board with electrical meters. The main electrical board is
located at the east gate of the building. This main incomer is supplying both buildings
through two sub-boards and connected to monitoring system.
The calculation of the electrical demand of the facility had been carried out
based on electrical monthly bill readings over a period of three years. This monthly
bills had been converted from kWh consumption to kW consumption. The final
monthly demand is shown in figure 17 and table 1. For the sake of comparison, the
electrical demand is kept in kWh in later sections.
400
300 Monthly
200 Average
System
100
Demand
0
January
March
February
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Figure 17 system demand in kW
The data in both the figure and the table above shows the variation of the
electrical demand from one month to another. It can be shown that the highest
demand had been consumed in November while the least consumption takes place
in June. This situation, unfortunately, contradicts with the incident solar radiations
during each month, i.e. the highest measured incident solar radiation occurs in June
and July when the lowest electrical consumption takes place, and the lowest
measured incident solar radiation occurs in November, December and January. This
is why system sizing should be carried out with cautious consideration of all the
aspects, since the main purpose of the project is only to supply the facility
consumption. Not taking this into account would lead to an unnecessary increase of
the investment cost. This point shall later be discussed in detail.
Power output calculation for a specific site will predict the long term system
performance. Many methods have been developed to calculate the power output of a
PV system. (Duffie and Bickman, 2006) demonstrated many theories, (the reader
can refer to this reference for further reading). For the purpose of this project, one
method has been selected for implementation, with occasional adjustments from
other theories.
Ideally, the building should be oriented to the south to optimally make use of
the direct (beam) and diffuse radiation throughout the year. However, as the system
is planned to be installed on an already built building's surface azimuth angle might
be considered if the building conditions does not allow a south facing system. The
buildings for the proposed system do not face south, but south-east (SE) with an
angle estimated to be approximately 23.2˚ from the south or 156.8˚ from the north.
The surface azimuth angle is calculated from the south, thus the used angle in the
calculation will be 23.2˚. The average daily monthly radiation on September is 2800
Wh/m2. The selected day is the 3rd of September and the selected hour is between
12:00 and 13:00 (day time). The ground reflectance can be found in the NASA solar
database and its average for September is 0.09. Monthly ground reflectance
(Albedo) can be seen in table 2.
Table 3 illustrates the basic information about the day of the study and the
specific hour, which has been carried out as follows.
Table 4 Site Data and Calculated information for one hour of the year
Global Irradiation On
13.174 Equals to
Horizontal Plane 2800 Day Length
13h 27m
(Wh/m2)
3.2.4 Calculation:
All the calculation is done on the 3rd day of September thus the day number
is 246. Latitude angle is 51.43˚. Declination angle can be calculated from equation 2
as following:
To find out the sunset angle equation 5 can be used as the following:
The daily extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal surface has been calculated using
the following:
To find the clearness index, equation 8 can be applied. However, before, the
value of the average radiation on a horizontal surface, should be calculated in J/m 2,
thus, the value in Wh can be multiplied by 3600 to be 10.08 MJ/m 2. Now, the
clearness index can be found as following:
The diffused radiations can be found by multiplying this ratio by the global irradiation
on a horizontal surface.
Sunrise hour and sunset hour has been calculated for this day to be 6:16 and
19:43 consequently. The length of this day is found to be 13 hours and 27 minutes.
The solar noon takes place at 13:00. (Note that all those values are at the local time,
and consider the one hour shift forward to start at 25th of March and ending at 28th
of October).
To calculate the hour angle, as mentioned before, the hour angle is -15˚ for
each hour before noon and +15˚ for each hour after the solar noon. In the case of
the example, the hour intended to find the power output at, is between 12:00 and
13:00, local time. While the time used is local time and is shifted one hour forward,
the solar noon should be calculated according to one hour earlier. The solar noon
occurs at 12:00 exactly, 13:00 at the local time, thus the hour angle between 12 and
13 becomes the hour angle between 11 and 12. It is thus calculated to be -15/2,
which is -7.5˚.
Now, Collares-Pereira's equation can be used to break the daily radiation into
an hourly global irradiance. The equation applied in the hand calculation is as
follows:
So rt is found as follows
Constant (a) and constant (b) is found as follow, noting that the angles are used in
radians. For ws = 98.81˚, the angle in radians equals to 1.724, thus:
The hourly diffused irradiance can be broken down using the Jordan and Liu
equation:
So,
And:
The final irradiance on a tilted surface can now be found using equation 19,
introduced by Jordan and Liu (Duffie and Beckman, 2006) mentioned. Considering
the slope angle of the PV panel to be 51˚, this can be used as following:
Where thus,
And,
This is the maximum power that can be extracted from the sun at the latitude
mentioned and the specifications stated. Now the electrical power output depends on
the efficiency of the PV panel and its efficiency variation with the ambient
temperature. Furthermore, the electrical connection and the electrical losses will take
an effect on the power output mentioned. Those calculations were done using a
simulation program which will help to design the system's specification more
accurately.
The relationship between the efficiency and the internal temperature is stated
in equation 26. Applying it to the studied hour will need to find the value of T c which
in its place will vary according to the ambient temperature. The average ambient
temperature of September is 16.7 ˚C. The reference PV efficiency is found under
Standard Testing Conditions (STC), while under those conditions, the temperature is
known as Nominal Operation Cell Temperature (NOCT). The slope angle that used
in calculation does not equal to the latitude angle minus the declination angle. In this
case a correction factor should be used by applying equation 28, the optimal angle
for Cf is equal to 44.0421˚, so:
The PV selected has a NOCT equals to 47.5 ˚C. Equation 26 can be applied to find
Tc as following but the first part, excluding T a, has to be multiplied by Cf as following:
Now, efficiency equation that relates the temperature with the reference temperature
can be applied:
Finally, the final power (W/m2) can be found. The power produced between 12:00
and 13:00 on the 3rd of September, when using the specified PV panel, is:
The system will produce, at the specified time, 22708.4047 Wh when the
optimal area is used. The optimal area is calculated for the site to be 408 m 2. (see
the area assessment section for more details about the system size and area
assessment).
The day length has an impact on the produced power throughout the year,
and the variation of the day length is going to affect the delivered demand. In
summer months of longer days, the production is expected to increase. The change
in day length is shown in figure 18.
The relation between the clearness index and the diffuse radiation ratio is
shown in figure 19. The relationship between the clearness index changes
throughout the year and diffused radiation ratio is taking a linear shape. See figure
19. It can be seen that the clearness index is governing the diffuse ratio since the
diffuse radiation amount is affected by the amount of dust, gases and water vapour.
12 12.33584107
11.59721747
11
10 10.31258186
9.685236872
9 8.567491142
8.187874362
8
7 7.687702537
6
Month
1
0.95
0.9
0.85
0.8
0.75
0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55 0.504399652
0.5
Kt
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3 0.256432765
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75
Kt vs.
Hd/H Hd/H
Table 5 Irradiance Ht according to day hours for each month along the year.
5.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.87 2.75 1.92 0.00 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
113.7 113.0 102.0
6.00 0.00 0.00 95.39 85.27 83.51 39.76 0.00 0.00 0.00
1 1 8
176.4 195.5 196.2 233.7 222.3 220.8 207.8 168.7 118.3 127.7
7.00 0.00 71.96
5 3 1 8 7 9 9 8 1 5
169.3 239.5 280.8 308.5 342.5 322.1 329.7 323.0 274.3 244.5 230.4 166.6
8.00
9 3 0 9 5 0 7 7 0 9 2 6
215.5 310.2 346.3 402.2 432.5 405.3 421.3 419.5 361.5 322.8 279.1 190.2
9.00
4 7 4 9 8 8 0 1 9 6 4 2
246.6 350.0 387.6 470.9 497.7 466.5 489.2 490.6 424.7 376.8 304.4 195.9
10.00
5 4 7 3 3 3 2 3 1 2 8 2
256.4 362.8 401.9 509.8 533.5 501.3 528.8 531.5 459.3 402.7 304.7 183.3
11.00
2 3 8 1 6 7 9 6 4 9 1 6
244.1 347.7 388.2 516.2 537.6 507.5 537.6 539.5 463.1 399.0 279.8 153.4
12.00
8 6 7 8 1 3 2 2 1 0 2 0
210.7 305.8 347.5 489.8 509.6 484.5 514.7 513.9 435.7 365.6 231.5 108.0
13.00
6 7 0 9 1 7 9 6 7 9 0 9
158.4 240.0 282.4 432.4 451.4 434.0 461.9 456.6 379.1 305.1 163.0
14.00 53.71
5 1 4 5 6 8 7 1 9 5 6
154.6 197.5 347.8 367.1 359.5 382.7 371.4 297.2 221.5
15.00 89.38 79.17 0.00
9 3 8 5 0 6 1 2 1
241.9 262.4 265.9 282.5 264.1 195.4 122.3
16.00 24.37 57.18 98.58 2.77 0.00
5 2 1 8 6 6 8
121.8 144.4 159.7 168.2 142.1
17.00 0.00 7.15 12.81 80.86 25.04 0.00 0.00
9 2 1 6 9
18.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.60 21.22 48.14 47.59 17.76 0.43 0.00 0.00 0.00
19.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
550.00
500.00
450.00
400.00 January
February
350.00 March
April
300.00
Ht W/m2
May
June
250.00
July
August
200.00
September
October
150.00
November
December
100.00
50.00
0.00
4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00 18.00 19.00 20.00 21.00
Day Light Hours
Figure 20 total irradiance on a tilted surface per hour for each month.
The final electrical power, after considering the thermal effect on the
photovoltaic panel efficiency, was calculated for each hour of the month. The
average hourly electrical power is presented in table 6. It can be seen that the
change in the electrical power production starts with medium production and then
reaches the maximum at noon. The production in the afternoon drops dramatically
until it reaches zero. The hourly demand of the building is similar to production since,
the university opens its doors in the early morning, and the consumption is relatively
low. Then at the noon the consumption is estimated to be high and might drop
afternoon. The consumption of the university may continue one, two or three hours
after the production stops, depending on the month.
Hour January February March April May June July August September October November December
4.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5.00 0.00 0.00 5.70 0.11 0.16 0.11 0.19 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
6.00 0.00 0.00 11.45 4.93 6.58 6.54 6.13 4.84 2.24 0.00 0.30 0.00
7.00 0.00 10.20 16.36 11.35 13.52 12.86 12.98 12.06 9.80 6.03 4.59 0.00
8.00 9.79 13.85 20.12 17.84 19.81 18.63 19.25 18.75 15.93 13.94 13.22 7.38
9.00 12.86 17.94 22.47 23.26 25.02 23.45 24.50 24.35 20.99 18.54 15.95 9.63
10.00 14.72 20.23 23.26 27.23 28.79 26.98 28.38 28.48 24.65 21.74 17.35 10.99
11.00 15.30 20.97 22.42 29.48 30.86 29.00 30.62 30.85 26.66 23.33 17.32 11.32
12.00 14.57 20.10 20.03 29.85 31.09 29.36 31.06 31.31 26.87 23.19 15.86 10.60
13.00 12.57 17.68 16.23 28.33 29.47 28.03 29.68 29.82 25.28 21.34 13.07 8.87
14.00 9.45 13.87 11.29 25.01 26.11 25.11 26.58 26.48 21.99 17.90 9.14 6.25
15.00 5.33 8.94 5.55 20.12 21.23 20.79 21.96 21.53 17.23 13.11 4.37 3.10
16.00 1.45 3.31 0.58 13.99 15.18 15.38 16.13 15.30 11.31 7.31 0.14 0.00
17.00 0.00 0.41 0.00 7.05 8.35 9.24 9.51 8.21 4.66 1.43 0.00 0.00
18.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.27 1.23 2.78 2.66 0.99 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00
19.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Total 96.05 147.51 175.46 238.82 257.40 248.27 259.63 252.95 207.64 167.87 111.32 68.14
35
January
30
February
25 March
April
20 May
kWh
June
15 July
August
10 September
October
5
November
December
0
Yearly Average
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Hour of the Day
Figure 21 shows the variation of production per hour for each month. It is
observed that the highest production is estimated to be at 12:00 in August. Monthly
production is shown in figure 22.
10000
8000
6000
kWh
4000
2000
0
Month
kWh…
The second problem of the useful area is that it contains obstacles which
might cause shading and difficulty to install the PV panels. See appendix B. Finally,
the roof top useful area is a corrugated roof with low loading withstand. See figure
23.
Taking all those issues into consideration has led to the considerations of
other options. The suggested idea is to erect a structure above the roof top to set the
panels tilted with the optimal tilt angle. This idea has many advantages.
Erecting whole new structure above the building, will increase the power
output in a way and decrease the used area in another way due to the consideration
that the optimally tilted panels, which will perform better than the normally tilted
panels, which will allow higher solar radiations collections. Furthermore, this erection
shall decrease the effect of shading associated with existing obstacles.
Moreover, it is important to mention that the roof top contains some ventilation
exhausts which, by installing the panels above it, might obstruct the exit air. Those
ventilation areas are assumed to be avoidable by placing the panels away from
them. Thus, the selected option will be to erect the structure above the top roof.
On the other hand, the panels should be positioned in a way that their
shadows minimise the effect on performance but do not interfere with the building's
primary objects e.g. the ventilation, skylights...etc. This can be done by following
simple rules in array geometry. The main factors ruling the geometry are the latitude
and the climate of the location but the design will also include the spacing between
rows, array tilt angle and azimuth angle and in addition to the module orientation.
The standard limitation for the shading losses is between 2-4%.
For spacing the rows, a setback ration (SBR) should be assigned. For many
places the SBR is 2:1 while in the sunny locations and lower regions it is at least 3:1.
(Luque and Hegedus, 2011) defined the SBR as "the horizontal distance, or gap,
between rows, divided by the vertical distance between the high and low sides of
adjoining rows". See figure 24. According to this the SBR is the angle . In this case,
the height of the panel which is ruled by the tilt angle will waver the spacing required.
The case of this project the tilt angle is fixed. Furthermore, the Ground cover ration
GCR is correlated to the tilted angle. The GCR is defined as "the array area divided
by the ground area, or, for an array of unit depth, as the row width, c, divided by the
row spacing, d." (Luque and Hegedus, 2011) Thus, the equation ruling the spacing
ration will be:
Solving for the project situation when giving that c = 1.316 m (Panel width)
. SBR = 2:1, soving for the height a:
So the pitch equals to 1.34 m. but because the area available is wide spread,
this value will be increased to 2 m.
The final area which will be covered by the PV panels is 26.32×51.646 that
equals to approximately 1356 m2.
3.3.0 calculating the hourly electrical power produced through all the year
Table 7 Maximum power system production and comparison with the system demand
System Demand
Month Maximum possible Power Produced Percentage %
kWh
January 9844.597755 10710.32555 91.92%
February 13660.27358 9091.104447 150.26%
March 17989.30002 8187.093173 219.73%
April 23695.32654 6014.643208 393.96%
May 26390.64852 5645.042719 467.50%
June 24632.79406 4566.445117 539.43%
July 26618.92997 4838.484549 550.15%
August 25875.19094 5102.848096 507.07%
September 20551.31597 6585.985196 312.05%
October 17210.73493 8903.864671 193.30%
November 11165.04505 10664.61564 104.69%
December 6986.619537 10581.79167 66.02%
Yearly or Average 224620.7769 7574.35367
Figure 25 Monthly Percentage of the total demand when maximum power produced.
Looking to the figures, it can be inferred that the system size should be
reduced in order to cover a percentage of the demand in the lowest month of
production while taking advantage of the system in the highest month of production.
In this case, the system will cover the system demand in most of the months and will
have a very good percentage in the low months of production. The lowest production
will be in December, while the highest production will be in July. The system should
be reduce and levelized to a certain amount. It is known that the extra produced
power can be sold to the electrical grid through the Feed in Tariff (FIT) system. (This
point will be illustrated in more detail in the economical evaluation to follow later in
this paper)
Now the system will be limited to minimum level to be sure that the size of the
system will cover at least a small amount of the energy in the low months of
production. The lowest production, as seen in table 8, is in December, consequently,
the system should supply at least 20% of the system demand to be economically
feasible. To find out the minimum production, the system demand in December
should be levelled to 20% of it is actual level to ensure that the system will be able to
supply this amount. Then, the area needed to supply the minimum level is
calculated. The average figures must be used to estimate the area. Twenty percent
of the system demand is calculated to be 2116.36 kWh. The average efficiency of
the panels in December is 14.10% and the average daily H t is around 1180 W/m2.
This means the total monthly average is approximately 36552 W/m2 for 31 days of
the month. The final minimum area found to be 410 m2. Table 8 shows the produced
power when this area is used while figure 26 shows the percentage in each month
and figure 27 shows the demand vs. the production.
The main purpose of this project is to supply most of the demand of the facility
and when looking at the figures above, it can be noticed that the system with its
current sizing is capable of supplying more than 100% of the demand in some
months. The proposed system, under the mentioned conditions, is capable of
supplying the total demand and supplying the grid with the extra produced power
during months like April, May, June, July and August. In addition, the system delivers
the needed power in the building by almost 100%. The system is capable of
providing the electrical demand by around 94% in September. February, March and
October are supplied by electrical power by percentages between 45% and 66%
whilst the rest of the months, November, December and January, will be supplied
limitedly of values between 20% and slightly above 30% of the demand.
9091.104447 March
10664.61564
April
May
8187.093173 June
8903.864671
July
August
6014.643208
6585.985196 September
October
5102.848096
5645.042719 November
4838.484549
4566.445117
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
The system size seems to be viable thus further study can be applied
on the system. Now, the panel area should be considered to find the optimal number
of panels based on the minimum value. The area is divided by the panel area to find
out the number of panels, and then the number of arrays can be decided. The
number of panels, based on those calculations, is found to be 313 panels. For
electrical configuration issues, this number should be reduced to 312 panels. The
total area of the panels will be 409 m2.
Chapter Four
program has a data of solar radiation from NASA solar data base of a period of ten
years. The data of the location of the proposed system is taken during the period
between 1983 and 1993. This data is considered to be old hence, a newer data from
the European commission has been used as what was done in the hand calculation.
To setup a new location and solar radiation data, the program has a tool called
"Geographical sites" which enable the user to enter a new data and modify its
specifications.
The new location had been created and the data used in the hand calculation
was entered to the data base of the program, see figure 29.
In the preliminary design step, the tilt angle, azimuth angle and the active area
used is entered and a visualisation/optimisation of shade option is available.
According to hand calculations and panel's data sheet the pitch distance and the
dimension of the panel were entered into a sun path which was created. (See figure
30 and figure 31.).
The preliminary design step shows, roughly, a promising output. The program
includes a price list in its data base which cannot be considered to be reliable
information since the market undergoing continuous change. Now, a comparison
between the global radiation on horizontal surface, tilted surface and considering the
shading effect is presented. It can be noticed that the tilted angle set for the system
is improving the system output in winter months, which is what is needed according
to the system demand figures, also, it can be seen that this increase in winter
months is a compromise on the summer months, see figure 32.
The near shading and variant can be defined and simulated using the "Near
Shading" tool. The tool interface can be shown in figure 33.
The main building and hawker wings building in the facility were the main
source of shading to the photovoltaic system. In addition trees on the southern side
of the building were considered in the shadow assessment. The final achieved
structure can be seen from the southern side in figure 35.
Now the structure of the building is ready. To build the photovoltaic system a
new PV plane in shade can be added from the object menu, see figure 36. The user
interface window allows the user to specify the panel dimensions, the pitch distance,
the tilt angle and the number of sheds.
The colour of each object and component can be modified to visualise the
scene easily. As well, the program will assist and give the user advice to optimally
design the objects.
There were two possible positions, one near the eastern edge of the main
building and the other possible position is near to the western edge. When the shade
simulation was applied to those two positions the results showed that the system will
be behind the plane at 5:00 p.m. when the system is placed at the eastern side of
the building whilst the system will be start to be behind the plane at 6 p.m. which will
give the system more time to produce electricity from the beam radiations.
On the other hand, the losses due to the shading where almost the same for
both sides. The attenuation factors for diffused and Albedo radiation were slightly
deferent, the attenuation is higher at the western side of the building. In general, both
results are almost the same, keeping in mind that the effect of reducing the diffuse
and the Albedo radiations is much less than the effect of decreasing the beam
radiations. Therefore, the selected position was to install the system at the western
side of the building. The shading factor for the beam radiations at different heights of
the sun and different azimuth angle can be seen in table 9. The table shows where
the system will be behind the plane corresponding to the sun positions and
movements during the day.
Figure 40 shading when the system is placed at the eastern side of the building.
Figure 41 shading when the system is placed at the western side of the building.
Table 9 Shading factor for the beam radiation at different sun positions.
system will be mostly restricted by the area. The total useful area and the system
area are already calculated by hand calculation and the area assessment as mention
in previous section, therefore, the system was built according to the area calculated
on the area assessment section. The area used is 409 m 2. System design interface
page is shown in figure 42
The graph showed the better results than any other condition when the twenty
four panels are connected in series and when thirteen arrays placed in parallel. All
the possible options were limited by both the inverter's MPP tracking voltage and
current. The optimisation graph can be seen in figure 43. The graph shows a
comparison between the power at the STC and the array arrangement used.
The final configuration of the system is to use 312 panels with peak power of
57.7 kWp. Twenty four panels will be placed in series and 13 arrays in parallel. The
voltage and the current of the photovoltaic generator with the suggested
configuration will be around 576 V and 102 A, before considering the losses. The
nominal PV power is 51.6 kWdc while the AC nominal power is 57 kWpac.
Now, the system is ready to be Simulated. All the data for the design have
been entered and all the configurations and optimisation have been done. Before
running the simulation, all the data have been review to make sure that the enter
data, specification and configurations are stated as required from the design. Any
required graph or table, other than the default, can be added before running the
simulation. The simulation had been done and the results are presented in the next
section.
Table 10 shows the output data after the simulation. E_Grid is the total
electrical power produced to the building and the electrical network. It shows the total
kWh produced by the suggested system for each month. Thus, a comparison
between the demand and the produced kWh is shown in figure 45.
The produced kWh using simulation program found to be less than that
calculated by hand. The main reason is that the hand calculation did not consider
any losses and only considered the variation in the efficiency with the change in the
temperature. The output energy by the simulation might indicate that the result
produced is accurate since all the losses are calculated. This cannot be true for
many reasons. The main reason that those data output is provisional data and the
simulation has an error percentage that might increase or decrease the results.
12000
10000
8000
6000 D (kWh)
sim kWh
4000
2000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
The simulation program will build a loss diagram for the whole year. The loss
diagram shows all the possible losses along the year and deducts it from the total
production. The losses of the shading and AM factor are shown to be 20%. The
module losses are around 13.2% of the total energy supposed to be produced by the
photovoltaic generator. Finally, the inverter losses are equal to 8.2%. All the details
of the mentioned losses above can be seen in figure 46. The net energy generated
from the system to either the building network or the electrical network will be 37490
kWh. It can be seen that the shading has a very great impact on the energy output
with approximately 17% losses. This is why an accurate study on the shading must
always be done.
Figure 48 shows the Voltage distribution for the array along the day. The
maximum voltage is recorded to be around 620 V while the minimum is around 450
V.
Figure 49 shows the daily power output along the whole year. It can be seen
that the energy produced in the summer months are much higher than that produced
in the winter.
The system has been built and now ready to be evaluated economically. Further
calculation will present how the project evaluated economically and how the
economical models help to size the system in its current conditions. Final models of
both hand and simulation calculation should be presented.
Chapter Five
The number of panels is 312, therefore, approximately 49% of the area used
to install the system will be covered by the PV modules while the other 51% of the
area will be used for spacing and stringing. The inverter control room can be placed
on a nearby roof of another building, hence the cable length has been estimated to
be 80 m and its cross sectional area is 35 mm2, the material suggested is copper
thus the resistance due to wiring is going to be 0.05 Ohm.
Under those considerations the array design can be set. The suggested
number of modules in series is 24 modules accumulating of 576 Volt and 13 strings
which will provide 100.23 Amp. to the inverter. The inverter has only one DC input
and the arrangements are within the inverter rating. The output power will be 400V L-L
and the current will change according to the demand and consumption. The nominal
AC power is 68 kW.
The layout shows the optimal electrical circuit for the system starting from the
photovoltaic panels as a power generator for the system. On the DC side of the
inverter, it is important to include a DC circuit breaker with specific protection. On the
AC side, an AC isolator is needed to isolate the whole system from the newly
integrated photovoltaic system. The output of the inverter is connected to a contactor
which is driven by a protective relay. The relay is an over current relay to protect the
circuit from any accidental rise in the current. This relay makes it possible to control
the system remotely. In case of an over current, the relay will sense the current
through a coil connected in line with the each phase, then its contactors will send a
signal to the main power contactor, 4 pole contactor. Finally, the energy will go
Omar Hamdan | Kingston University London
80
through a kWh meter to calculate the produced energy. The energy status can be
observed through a display unit installed remotely.
The installation of the kWh meter in the system is shown in figure 52. U is the energy
produced by the photovoltaic system to the electrical grid, E is the energy consumed
from the electrical grid. P refers to the total production of the photovoltaic system
while C is the total consumption of the building.
During the night or during the cloudy conditions there will not be any energy
produced by the photovoltaic system. Therefore, P and U are equal to zero and the
consumed energy by the building is equal to the energy bought from the grid.
- P > C, in this case the building will be fully fed by electricity from the
photovoltaic system and the extra kWh units can be sold to the grid with the
feed in tariff stated by the government;
- P < C, in this case the building will only be fed partially by the photovoltaic
system and the rest of the building demand will be supplied by the electrical
grid.
electrocution and therefore the advantage over the earthed systems is present only
in case of small plants.
Chapter Six
The model will help to take an economical decision when the system is being
sized. This is because it is, sometimes, easier to decide, upon engineering
prospective, whether the system is optimal to be built under certain conditions or not
but it is harder to decide if the project will be economically feasible or not.
6.1.1 Assumptions
By looking through many market analysis of photovoltaic system, the records
showed that the prices of installing PV panels are decreasing. Since the beginning of
2011 to August of this year 2012, the price index of the solar panels has dropped by
60% (Solar Panel Prices in the UK, 2012). The Feed in Tariff cut by the UK
government was the main cause of this decline. The prices is planned to change in
the near future, November 2012.
other expenses. This price for the system between 50 and 150 kW installed on
retrofit building. (DECC, 2012)
This price is estimated by looking at the figures of the DECC presented from:
The price estimated is an average of all the figures given. Operation and
maintenance cost was estimated to be 1% of the total cost yearly.
The Feed in Tariff (FIT) value, starting from November 2012, is 11.5 p/kWh.
This data is based on the latest update from DECC for photovoltaic systems ranging
between 50 kWp and 100 kWp, considering a higher rate value. The saving on the
energy bill is found to be 8.5 p/kWh. This value is found according to the tariff rates
on the university bills. The tax upon the loan stated is assumed to be 7%.
6.2.0 Sizing the System Based on Data from the Economic Model
The model made it possible to see the figures of the cost and cash flow. In
addition, it is possible to evaluate whether the system payback period is sufficient or
not. The first assumption is to install the maximum possible system size. As
suggested before, the second assumption is to produce energy enough to supply
20% of the energy consumption in December. Finally, the power output from the
simulation results were applied to the model.
Table 11 Maximum power output applied on the built economical model (in £)
TOTA
Year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
L
15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 15,8 238,3
Turnover 0
92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 92 77
Initial 318,7 318,7
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
investment 50 50
3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 3,18 47,81
O&M 0
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 3
- -
12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7 12,7
EBIT 318,7 128,1
04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04 04
50 86
13,33
Tax 0 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889 889
9
- -
11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8 11,8
Net Income 318,7 141,5
15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
50 25
7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 7,34 117,5
Savings 7,347
7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 47
- -
19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1 19,1
Cash Flow 311,4 23,97
62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62 62
03 9
- -
Net Present 17,9 16,7 15,6 14,6 13,6 12,7 11,9 11,1 10,4 9,74 9,10 8,50 7,95 7,43 6,94 6,49 6,06 5,66 5,29 4,95 4,62 4,32 4,04 3,77 3,53
311,4 136,8
Value 08 37 42 18 62 68 33 52 23 1 4 8 1 1 5 1 6 9 8 2 8 5 2 8 1
03 81
£100,000.00
£0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
-£100,000.00
-£200,000.00
-£300,000.00
-£400,000.00
6.2.3 Using the Data from Simulation for 20% of December System Size
When the system simulated, the power output changed from the results found
by hand calculations. This is because in the simulation, the losses were considered
while the hand calculation did not consider the losses. The capital cost and the
maintenance of the project are the same as in the hand calculation results. The
payback for this assumption is found to be 20 years which is higher than the
calculation in hand as expected.
Table 12 20% of December production assumption applied on the built economical model (in £)
Year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TOTAL
1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,41 21,21
Turnover 0
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2
Initial 73,56 73,56
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
investment 8 8
11,03
O&M 0 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736
5
- -
EBIT 73,56 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 678 63,39
8 1
Tax 0 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 47 712
- -
Net Income 73,56 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 631 64,10
8 3
4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 4,72 75,64
Savings 4,728
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 3
-
5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 5,35 11,53
Cash Flow 68,84
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
0
- -
Net Present 5,00 4,68 4,37 4,08 3,82 3,57 3,33 3,11 2,91 2,72 2,54 2,37 2,22 2,07 1,94 1,81 1,69 1,58 1,48 1,38 1,29 1,21 1,13 1,05
68,84 987 20,03
Value 8 0 4 8 1 1 7 9 5 4 6 9 4 8 2 5 6 5 2 5 4 0 0 6
0 4
£60,000.00
£40,000.00
£20,000.00
£0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
-£20,000.00
-£40,000.00
-£60,000.00
-£80,000.00
Figure 55 Cash flow of System sized based on 20% of December demand. Simulation results
Table 13 20% of December production assumption applied on the built economical model/ simulation result (in £)
Year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 TOTAL
1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 1,15 17,25
Turnover 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Initial 73,56 73,56
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
investment 8 8
11,03
O&M 0 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736 736
5
- -
EBIT 73,56 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 414 67,35
8 3
Tax 0 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 435
- -
Net Income 73,56 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 385 67,78
8 8
3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 3,15 50,41
Savings 3,151
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
- -
3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53 3,53
Cash Flow 70,41 17,37
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
7 5
- -
Net Present 3,30 3,08 2,88 2,69 2,52 2,35 2,20 2,05 1,92 1,79 1,68 1,57 1,46 1,37 1,28 1,19 1,11 1,04
70,41 978 914 854 798 746 697 652 38,21
Value 5 9 7 8 1 6 2 8 3 8 0 0 7 1 2 8 9 6
7 0
Looking at the first and the second model it can be seen that the payback
period for the first model is around 16.5 years while the second model payback
period is 13 years. Upon this it can be decided that it is better to decrease the
investment cost and, in the same time, the decrease the risk.
The produced kWh in the third model is less than the second model since the
losses were calculated in the simulation process. The payback time is less as
expected. On the other hand, the calculation in the simulation, occasionally, can be
inaccurate. The savings on the energy bill for both models, the first and the second,
are shown in figure 56 and figure 57. Figures 58 and 59 shows the demand and the
produced kWh in the first and the second model.
Electricity Bill
1500
1000
Electricity bill (£)
500
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec New bill
-500
Old bill
-1000
-1500
-2000
Month
Electricity Bill
New electricity bill Old electricity bill
1000
Electricity bill (£)
500
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
-500
Month
Chart Title
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
10000
8000
6000
kWh
4000
2000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
-2000
-4000
Month
6.3.0 Analysis
It can be seen that there is a huge different between the model when no
losses is considered and when the losses is considered. Therefore, the economical
evaluation must be done according to the closest power production value.
Chapter Seven
The analysis of the site in terms of demand, solar radiation, useful area
available, obstacles and shading and other related issues help to set a methodology
to decide the system. London's solar irradiances and the clearness index values
were the main dampers of the electrical production the clearness index average
value was calculated to be 0.39. This value considers low compared with clearness
index values at other locations.
The facility demand played a great role of varying the system size since there
is a gap between summer's months and winter months. Considering the estimated
electrical production in summer is higher than the estimated production in winter
whilst the demand of the facility is higher in winter and less in summer.
The area assessment was done upon site survey and as built buildings
diagrams. Many trouble-shootings were done to estimate the size of the system but
the main challenging was the obstacles on the main building roof and the loading
withstand of the roof itself. Thus, an erected structure was suggested to overcome
this issue.
Hand calculation power production value and simulation power value were
quite different because in the hand calculation no losses were considered while the
simulation program presents realistic values.
Chapter Eight
7.1.0 Conclusion
The paper presents a method to design, size and evaluate photovoltaic
system. Many models were built to evaluate the system by means of electrical
configuration, structure and economical configuration.
Later, another model was presented by limiting the production to 20% of the
demand of the month with the lowest solar electricity production. After evaluating the
model by hand calculation, simulation and an economical model presented, it was
found that the system size suggested is going to partially achieve the objectives of
the project. The system size was decided according to that.
Total area used for the system is 858 m2 including only 409 m2 active area.
Number of panels decided to be 312 modules and one inverter with rated power of
60 kWp is decided to be installed with the system. Electrical configurations and
protection methods were stated.
After calculating the capital cost and the operation and maintenance cost, the
project is found to payback the capital in 13 years according to data from hand
calculations. A longer period is predicted according to power data from the
simulation. The payback period found to be 21 years.
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Appendix A
One-hour example of hand calculation. All the data available with the attach CD.
Appendix B
1- Site diagram, other more detailed diagrams can be found on the attached CD.
2- Roof Obstacles
Appendix C
PV Data sheet and Inverter