Performance analysis of a

Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant

Michelle Melo Cavalcante, João Lucas de Souza Silva, Marı́lia Pinto Fonseca Lins
Marcelo Gradella Villalva, Member, IEEE Facilities Data Center/Green TI
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC) Operational Technology Center Itaú Unibanco
University of Campinas (Unicamp) São Paulo, Brazil
Campinas, Brazil Email: marilia.fonseca-lins@itau-unibanco.com.br
Email: michelle@dsee.fee.unicamp.br, jlucasss@dsce.fee.unicamp.br,
villalva@unicamp.br

Abstract—Companies from the most diverse sectors are rapidly Companies are identifying strategies that will allow subsidy-
applying and using renewable energy in their businesses. The free projects to be profitable in different markets [2].
idea is to reduce electricity costs, lower carbon emissions and Example of this, in an effort to reduce carbon footprints and
get publicity. In this context, the objective of the research is
to evaluate the performance of the photovoltaic system to be increase the sustainability of operations, dozens of companies
implemented for electric energy compensation in bank branches. [1]–[11] notably Facebook, eBay, and Cisco Systems – are
The photovoltaic solar power plant is will implemented in Mogi implementing solar energy projects. The movement to solar is
Mirim City, Brazil. For this, a case study is carried out. The not limited to giants of the Internet, nor is it limited to sunbelt
PVSyst tool is used to evaluate parameters such as effective locations; McGraw-Hill is building a 14.1 MW facility in New
energy output of the PV array, energy injected into the grid,
performance ratio and other normalized energy productions per Jersey, according to Data Center Knowledge. And Rutgers
installed kWp. The simulations show that the PV system of 3 University, also in New Jersey, is experimenting with a small
MW generates 4677 MWh/year, of which 4560 MWh/year are roof-top array to power a 150-server micro-Data Center [4].
injected into the grid. The annual performance ratio is around In way general, the growth of the solar energy market is
76% and the useful energy is 3.82 kWh/kWp/day. The favorable
driven by an increase in environmental pollution, provision of
indexes of utilization are mainly due to the favorable location of
the bank branches, being this more dependent on the climatic government incentives and tax rebates to install solar modules.
conditions than limited by the technical conditions. In addition, a decrease in water footprint associated with solar
Index Terms—Solar Energy, Performance, Power Generation, energy systems has fueled its demand in power generation
Bank Branches, Case Study sectors. For more, the trend of electric vehicles and smart cities
in the world increase the potential of solar energy [4]–[6]. In
I. I NTRODUCTION this work, the performance of a photovoltaic solar power plant
applied to the energy compensation of a set of bank branches
The electricity sector is undergoing a period of rapid, is analyzed. Fig. 1 shows the schematic summary of the work.
unprecedented change in the scale and breadth of deployment
of renewable power generation technologies. Since 2012, these
have accounted for more than half of new electric power
generation capacity additions, worldwide. At the end of 2016,
total renewable power generation capacity surpassed 2000
GW, meaning that it had more than doubled in the space of
nine years [1], [2].
Renewable power implementation is currently benefitting
from a virtuous cycle, in which policy support for renewable
power generation technologies leads to accelerated deploy-
ment, technology improvements and cost reductions, with
these then reducing the cost of electricity from renewable
power generation technologies and encouraging greater uptake
of these technologies [2].
Thus, in many parts of the world, utilities, industry players,
project developers, and asset owners have rapidly embraced
this new dynamic and are finding ways to profitably navigate
this new landscape. In the absence of direct financial support, Fig. 1. Photovoltaic system (A) without connection to the grid (B) with
project developers are also using new business models to grow. connection to the grid to provide power to the branches

978-1-5386-8218-0/19/$31.00 2019
c IEEE
 II. C ONTEXT, PARAMETERS AND M ETHODS
A. Context
While the primary purpose of using renewable energy such
as solar is to reduce electricity costs and reduce carbon
emissions for businesses, advertising is another good moti-
vation for using green energy in your ventures. Given the
daily improvement in the renewable energy industry, today’s
greening infrastructures make more sense than before as they
have been price competitive compared to fossil fuels. As a
result, companies are seeing their ventures as part of their sus-
tainability goals. In short, renewable energies are increasingly
pushing businesses to turn green [12]. In these perspectives,
the design of a PV solar power plant (PVSPP) was carried
out. The location of the park is in the city of Mogi Mirim,
state of São Paulo, Brazil.
In order to succeed in the implementation of the PVSPP,
we will consider aspects such as solar energy available on the
spot throughout the year, amount of solar radiation reaching
the earth’s surface, amount of possible power generation from
the PVSPP, types of components and installation of the plant.
This will be possible by conducting computer-based simula-
tion studies. Computer-based simulation studies were more
advanced and useful tools for analyzing the operational and
performance characteristics of PVSPP under varying climates
and capacities [13], [14]. Fig. 2. Schematic of Power Flow in grid-connected PV system
In this work, the PVsyst software tool is chosen to study
and analyze the performance of the 3MW PV system to be
implemented. PVsyst is software that performs photovoltaic • Inverter
(PV) simulations using data from real solarimetrics stations Model: Ingecon Sun 125 U B208 Outdoor
(Meteonorm and data interpolation) and a set of algorithms. Manufacturer: Ingeteam
In this way, it is possible to simulate the PV system throughout Unit Nom. Power: 125 kWac
the year considering all the seasons (summer, winter, spring, Total Power: 3000 kWac
and autumn) and various variables that make up a PV system, Nb of inverters: 24 units
thus it is possible to consider the PV losses. Operating voltage: 330-820 V

B. Description of grid-connected photovoltaic system
Conventionally, the energy flow in a grid-connected PV
system is illustrated as Fig. 2. The inverter, in addition to
converting direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), also
performed the synchronization of the system with the grid.
For the present study, the energy will be injected directly
into the transmission line through transformers. This need
arises from the lack of a distribution grid near the place
where the SPP will be installed. The grid to be connected
to the system is from the Elektro Electrical Distribution
Company. The planned structure for the PV system will have
the following configuration:
• PV modules
Type/Model: Si-poly/CS3U-330P-AG
Manufacturer: Canadian Solar Inc.
Number of PV modules in series: 18 modules
Number of PV modules in parallel: 550 strings
Total Number of PV modules: 9900 modules
Unit Nom. Power: 330 Wp
Array Global Power Nominal (STC): 3267 kWp
C. Photovoltaic system parameters for performance analysis
International energy agency (IEA) developed performance
parameters [15]–[19] for analyzing the performance of grid-
connected PV system. These parameters would give the com-
plete pre-feasibility analysis of the PVSPP and that includes:
reference yield, array yield, final system yield, array capture
losses, system losses, performance ratios, capacity utilization
factor, inverter efficiency, system efficiency, energy injected
to the grid, etc [15]–[19]. In this study, the parameters used
for assessing the performance of grid-connected PV system
was reference yield, array yield, energy injected to the grid,
final system yield, array capture losses, system losses, and
performance ratio.
• Reference Yield (Yr ) is the total amount of energy
produced in the system when the system is said to be
running at nominal efficiency. This nominal efficiency
of the system is predefined by the array manufacturers
at STC and can be seen on the name plate details.
It is mathematically represented as the ratio of total
horizontal irradiance to the global irradiance at STC. Yr
 is numerically expressed with the units as kWh/m2 /day
[15]–[19].
• Array Yield (Ya ) it is the amount of DC energy produced
by the PV array. It is defined as the ratio of DC energy
generated from the PV array to the nominal power of the
PV array [15]–[19].
• Energy injected to grid (EGrid) is available monthly
and yearly by means of analysis of daily values. It is
considered the average, maximum and minimum values
of energy injected into the grid.
• Final System Yield (Yf ) is the amount of energy injected
to the grid on annual, monthly or daily basis. It is defined
as the ratio of AC energy output of the PV system
(Inverter terminal output) to the peak power i.e. per
installed kWp of the PV array at STC [15]–[19].
• Array Capture Losses (LC ) is the difference of reference
yield to the array yield. This loss mainly occurs in PV
array due to various factors like temperature rise of the
PV cell, partial shading, dust accumulation on PV array,
maximum power point errors, mismatching [15]–[19].
• System Losses (LS ) is the difference of array yield to the
final system yield. This loss is due to the inverter system
and other electrical components used for grid integration
[15]–[19].
• Performance Ratio (PR) is defined as the ratio of final
system yield to the reference yield. It can also be defined
as the ratio of energy injected into the grid to nominal
power mentioned in the name plate details of the PV
array [15]–[19]. The closer the PR value determined for
a PV plant approaches 100%, the more efficiently the
respective PV plant is operating. In real life, a value of
100% cannot be achieved, as unavoidable losses always
arise with the operation of the PV plant (e.g. thermal loss
due to heating of the PV modules). High-performance PV
plants can however reach a performance ratio of up to
80% [20].
III. A NALYSIS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF PHOTOVOLTAIC
SYSTEMS
Simulation results of a proposed PV system are analyzed
in this section. The results were obtained from the simulation
model of the 3 MW PV system modeled in PVsyst as per
the project specifications and constraints. In this simulation,
mainly produced energy, specific production, performance
ratio, and arrow losses were obtained. Obtained results were
analyzed for assessing the performance of the PV system for
the bank branches.
A. Balances and main results
Balances and main results are shown in Table I includes
the variables like global irradiance on the horizontal plane,
ambient average temperature, global irradiance on collector
plane without any optical corrections, effective global irra-
diance considering soiling losses and shading losses. Apart
from these variables, DC energy produced by the PV array,
energy injected into the grid considering the losses in electrical
components, PV array, and system efficiency also computed.
The computed values of each variable mentioned in balances
and main results were obtained in terms of monthly and yearly
values. Yearly values of the variables are possible as averages
for temperature, efficiency, and summation for irradiance and
energy.
For the study location, annual global irradiance on hor-
izontal plane (GlobHor) is 1744.7 kWh/m2 and the global
incident energy on annual basis on the collector without optical
corrections and effective global irradiance after optical losses
(GlobInc) are 1837 kWh/m2 and 1713.7 kWh/m2 respectively.
With this effective irradiance, annual DC energy produced
from the PV array (EArray) and annual AC energy injected
to the grid (EGrid) is 4676.7 MWh and 4559.8 MWh respec-
tively.
B. Normalized productions
Normalized productions such as collection losses, system
losses and produced useful energy per installed kWp/day were
evaluated from the simulation study, see in Fig. 3. These
normalized productions are defined by the IEC norms [18]
and are standardized variables for assessing the PV system
performance. LC is the Collection losses or the PV array
capture losses i.e. 1.11 kWh/kWp/day. LS is the system loss i.e.
0.10 kWh/kWp/day and the Yf is the produced useful energy
i.e. 3.82 kWh/kWp/day.
Fig. 3. Normalized energy productions per installed kWp
Table II presents the Normalized Performance Coefficients
Yr , Ya , Yf , LC and LS (all in kWh/m2 .day) monthly and
annually in numerical format.
C. Energy injected to grid
Energy produced by PV array cannot be the same as energy
injected into the grid. Energy from the PV array is DC which
has to be converted to into AC energy in order to feed the
grid. During this some amount of energy is lost in terms of
AC wiring loss.
 TABLE I
BALANCES , M AIN R ESULTS AND E NERGY INJECTED TO GRID

Balances and Main Results Dialy and Monthly Energy injected to grid
Daily Daily Daily Monthly Monthly
GlobHor DiffHor TAmb GlobInc GlobEff
PR EGridav EGridmax EGridmin EArray EGrid
(kWh/m2 ) (kWh/m2 ) (o C) (kWh/m2 ) (kWh/m2 )
(MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh)
January 162.8 77.38 23.1 158.1 147.2 0.747 12.449 22.044 2.187 396.1 385.9
February 151.9 79.02 23.54 151.8 141.3 0.75 13.289 21.66 3.791 381.5 372
March 150.2 79.88 23.41 155.6 144.9 0.752 12.325 21.714 2.291 391.8 382.1
April 131 55.52 21.9 143.4 134.1 0.76 11.867 19.233 1.483 365.1 356
May 121.2 46.37 18.77 139.4 130.1 0.775 11.389 16.131 1.729 362 353.1
June 106.6 38.87 18.05 126.4 117.5 0.777 10.692 14.726 1.42 329 320.8
July 123.4 37.84 17.49 146.2 136.3 0.777 11.982 16.132 2.845 380.8 371.4
August 142 48.8 19.31 160.2 150.3 0.771 13.019 16.84 3.81 413.8 403.6
September 145.4 61.55 19.95 154.1 144.5 0.761 12.779 20.619 1.938 393.3 383.4
October 161.4 78.76 22.28 163.2 152 0.752 12.937 20.501 2.163 411.3 401
November 178.5 82.55 21.95 174.8 162.8 0.752 14.322 22.004 3.775 440.8 429.7
December 170.3 78.42 22.95 163.8 152.6 0.749 12.928 21.505 1.839 411.3 400.8
Year 1744.7 764.97 21.04 1837 1713.7 0.76 12.492 24.063 1.028 4676.7 4559.8

TABLE II
N ORMALIZED P ERFORMANCE C OEFICIENTS

Yr Ya Yf
Ls Lc
(kWh/m2 .day)
January 5.1 3.91 3.81 0.1 1.189
February 5.42 4.17 4.07 0.103 1.25
March 5.02 3.87 3.77 0.096 1.15
April 4.78 3.72 3.63 0.092 1.054
May 4.5 3.57 3.49 0.089 0.923
June 4.21 3.36 3.27 0.084 0.856
July 4.72 3.76 3.67 0.093 0.957
August 5.17 4.09 3.99 0.101 1.081
September 5.14 4.01 3.91 0.101 1.125
October 5.26 4.06 3.96 0.101 1.202
November 5.83 4.5 4.38 0.113 1.329
December 5.29 4.06 3.96 0.104 1.224
Year 5.03 3.92 3.82 0.098 1.111

Conform Table I, the designed PVSPP injects 4559.8 MWh
of energy into grid on yearly basis. Annually, the average
(EGridav ), maximum (EGridmax ) and minimum (EGridmin )
values of energy injected into the grid were 12.5 MWh, 24.1
MWh and 1.0 MWh respectively.
D. Performance ratio
Performance ratio (PR) for the simulated 3 MW PV system
is 76%, which is the annual average PR value. There is small
variation in PR value on monthly basis, which can be seen in
Fig. 4 and monthly values were tabulated in Table 1.
E. Arrow loss diagram
Arrow loss diagram is obtained from the simulated studies,
which help in analyzing the various losses that are to be
encountered while installing PV plant or constraints to be
considered. Arrow loss diagram is seen in Fig. 5. Which
represents the various losses in the system. Global irradiance
on a horizontal plane is 1745 kWh/m2 . But the effective
irradiance on the collector is 1713 kWh/m2 . This result in
Fig. 4. Performance ratio
the loss of energy i.e. 1.2% due to irradiance level. When this
effective irradiance falls on the surface of a PV module or
array, electricity or electrical energy is produced.
After the PV conversion, array nominal energy at standard
testing conditions (STC) is 5602 MWh. The efficiency of the
PV array at STC is 16.64%. Annual array virtual energy at
MPP is 4677 MWh. The various losses occur in this stage
are 3.8% losses in module degradation, 8.9% losses due to
temperature, 1.3% loss due to irradiance level, 2.3% loss due
to module array mismatch and 1.0% is the Ohmic writing
losses. Available energy on annual basis at the inverter output
facility is 7564 MWh and the same is injected to grid. This
value is considering the loss of 2.5 % of the inverter during
inverter operation.

Fig. 5. Loss diagram over the whole year
IV. C ONCLUSION
Simulated performance of 3 MW grid-connected Si-poly PV
system is carried out in this study using the PVsyst simulation
tool. From this study, it was verified that, on a yearly basis,
4560 MWh/year is the energy that is injected into the grid
with specific production on annual basis per installed kWp is
1396 kWh/kWp/year.
Maximum energy injected into the grid is in the month of
November i.e. 429.7 MWh, and the least energy is in the
month of June i.e. 320.8 MWh. The average performance
ratio (PR) of the Si-poly PV system is operated at 76% in
the simulated study for the planned location.
From the results, it can be concluded that the planned PV
system presents good performance indices. Through the PR,
it is verified that the system is efficient since the percentage
value obtained is close to 80%. In general, the value of PR is
a consequence of the several losses that make up a PV system
and that was considered in the simulation to obtain greater
precision in the results. Even so, a good result is obtained,
mainly due to the favorable geographical location and little
shading in PV sheds.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the agencies CNPq, CAPES
and Itaú Unibanco S.A.
R EFERENCES
[1] IRENA, Renewable Capacity Statistics 2017, International Renewable
Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi. 2018.
[2] IRENA (2018), Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2017, International
Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.
[3] ABB Data Centers, ”Why Data Centers are suddenly hot
on solar energy,” ABB Inc., 2013. [Online]. Avaliable:
https://library.e.abb.com/public/59ed30cdbc03885285257c04004ff536/ABB-
783-WPO Data-centers-solar-energy.pdf. [Accessed: Jan. 16, 2019].
[4] “Renewable Energy and Data Center Services in 2016,” in Data Center
Knowledge website
[5] Bloomberg NEF, “New Energy Outlook,” Bloomberg, New York, Tech.
Report. 2019
[6] Rasmussen, Neil. Implementing Energy Efficient Data Centers. American
Power Conversion, 2006.
[7] Europe, S. Global Market Outlook For Solar Power 2018–2022. Solar-
Power Europe: Brussels, Belgium. 2018.
[8] IEA. Renewables 2O18: Analysis and Forecasts to 2O23. Market Report
Series. 2018.
[9] REN21. Renewables 2018: Global Status Report. 2018.
[10] IRENA. Global Trends in Renewable Energy Costs. 2018. Available:
http://resourceirena.irena.org/gateway/dashboard/?topic=3subTopic=1065.
Accessed on: Jan., 10, 2018.
[11] A. Eshraghi, A. Sadeghi-Mobarakeh, E. Reihani, M. Motalleb and S.
M. A. Mousavi, ”Power Consumption Cost Optimization Using Solar
Photovoltaic Systems for Data Centers,” 2018 North American Power
Symposium (NAPS), Fargo, ND, 2018, pp. 1-6.
[12] Y. Sverdlik, “How Renewable Energy is Changing the Data Center
Market,” Data Center Knowledge, 2016. [Online]. Avaliable:
https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2016/08/11/how-
renewable-energy-is-changing-the-data-center-market. [Accessed: Jan.
29, 2019].
[13] D. Connolly, H. Lund, B. V. Mathiesen, M. Leahy. A review of computer
tools for analysing the integration of renewable energy into various energy
systems. Applied Energy 2010; 87(4): 1059-1082.
[14] Sunanda Sinha, S. S. Chandel. Review of software tools for hybrid
renewable energy systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
2014; 32: 192-205.
[15] V. Sharma, S.S. Chandel. ”Performance analysis of a 190 kWp grid
interactive solar photovoltaic power plant in India. Energy, 55, 2013, pp.
476-485.
[16] B. Shiva Kumar, K. Sudhakar. ”Performance evaluation of 10 MW grid
connected solar photovoltaic power plant in India”. Energy Reports, 1,
2015, pp. 184-192.
[17] IEC. Photovoltaic System Performance Monitoring-Guidelines for Mea-
surement Data Exchange and Analysis. IEC Standard 61724. Geneva
Switzerland; 1998.
[18] B. Marion et al. Performance parameters for grid-connected PV systems.
In Proceedings of Conference Record of the Thirty-first. IEEE Photo-
voltaic Specialists Conference, 2005, p. 1601-1606.
[19] L. M. Ayompe et al. Measured performance of a 1.72 kW rooftop
grid connected photovoltaic system in Ireland. Energy Conversion and
Management, 52, 2011, pp. 816-825.
[20] MA Solar Technology AG, Performance ratio: Quality factor for the PV
plant, tech. report, Solar Technology, SMA Solar Technology AG, 2019.