Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55

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Energy for Sustainable Development

Monitoring, measured and simulated performance analysis of a 2.4 kWp

grid-connected PV system installed on the Mulhouse campus, France
Aziz Haffaf a,c,⁎, Fatiha Lakdja a,b, Djaffar Ould Abdeslam c, Rachid Meziane a
a
Faculty of Technology, Electro Technical Department, Electro Technical Engineering Laboratory, Saida University, 20000, Algeria
b
ICEPS Laboratory, Djillali Liabes University, Sidi Bel Abbes 22000, Algeria
c
IRIMAS Laboratory, Haute Alsace University, Mulhouse 68093, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents the performance analysis of a 2.4 kWp grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system installed in
Received 9 November 2020 August 2018 at the Institute University of Technology (IUT) in Mulhouse, France. The analysis covers the results
Revised 3 March 2021 obtained from system monitoring from August 2018 to May 2020. Various performance parameters in accor-
Accepted 4 March 2021
dance with the International Energy Agency IEC 61724 standard were calculated from the measured results, in-
Available online 26 March 2021
cluding the PV energy output and yield factor (YF), capacity utilization factor (CUF) and the avoided CO2
emissions. Then, the 2.4 kWp PV grid connected system is simulated using three widely used PV simulation soft-
Keywords:
Grid-connected PV system ware (PVGIS, PV Watts, and HOMER). The results obtained in terms of YF and CUF were compared with the re-
Monitoring sults of PV systems installed on different continents (Europe, Asia and, Africa). The energy produced is
Energy yield estimated at 968.43 kWh, 3246.47 kWh and 1382.75 kWh for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 operating periods, respec-
Capacity utilization factor tively. For the year 2019, the PV system produces a YF of 3.75 kWh/kWp and a CUF of 15.65%. The total energy
CO2 emission over the lifetime of the system and the amount of CO2 emissions avoided are 5597.65 kWh and 4.17 tons, respec-
Software tively. Finally, the simulation results obtained by the three software are compared to the actual performance of
the system. Regarding the measured values, the results of PV Watts and HOMER are close and both give
underestimated values with an annual YF average of 1250.33–1250.83 kWh/kWp and a CUF of 14.36–14.27%, re-
spectively. However, the results predicted by the PVGIS software are overestimated compared to the measured
performance.
© 2021 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction solutions such as the development and integration of renewable energies

In recent years, industrialization, population growth and the demand
for individual comfort have led to a significant increase in the world's
consumption of electricity, which is mainly produced from fossil fuels.
This energy consumption and the associated CO2 emissions are expected
to continue. For example, a significant global increase is recorded
between 2010 and 2016 in terms of population, energy consumption
and carbon dioxide emissions, with 7.4%, 9.1% and 6.0% respectively
(British Petroleum, 2017; World Bank, 2018). The building sector is one
of the largest energy consumers in the world, responsible for 40% and
39% of energy consumption and 36% and 38% of CO2 emissions respec-
tively in Europe and the United States (Amasyali & El-Gohary, 2016).
Consequently, the variation in the price of fossil fuel resources and
their depletion, as well as the associated greenhouse gas emissions, is
the main concerns for the global energy supply (EIA, 2017). This sce-
nario has forced and encouraged researchers and companies to find
⁎ Corresponding author at: Faculty of Technology, Electro Technical Department,
Electro Technical Engineering Laboratory, Saida University, 20000, Algeria.
E-mail address: Azzoz28@hotmail.fr (A. Haffaf).
to meet the increasing demand for energy, to reduce electricity costs in re-
mote areas and to reduce environmental impact. Many renewable re-
sources are available and can be used such as hydropower, biomass,
wind, geothermal and solar photovoltaic (Gupta, Kumar, & Kumar,
2019; Hussain, Arif, & Aslam, 2017; Salameh, Ghenai, Merabet, &
Alkasrawi, 2020). Thus, solar PV systems have emerged as an effective al-
ternative in this respect because of their many advantages. These include
the production of clean energy (direct conversion of incident solar
radiation into electricity), their simple and silent operation, their low
maintenance costs and their possibility of being used in many applica-
tions with different power ratings, from small to large scale, with the
grid-connected photovoltaic systems model (GCPVs) and also in stand-
alone PV systems. In summary, solar PV systems help to evolve towards
a decarbonized energy supply capable of reducing CO2 emissions
(Malvoni, Leggieri, Maggiotto, Congedo, & De Giorgi, 2017a; Mirhassani,
Ong, Chong, & Leong, 2015).
The declining cost of PV production as well as the various incentive
rules introduced by governments, such as net metering and solar energy
credits and feed-in tariffs, are the reasons for the rapid growth of the PV
sector and the increasing application of solar energy in both types of

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2021.03.006
0973-0826/© 2021 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al.
connections, especially the grid-connected type (Bakhshi-Jafarabadi,
Sadeh, & Dehghan, 2020; Hafeznia, Aslani, Anwar, & Yousef, 2017).
Over the last 15 years, the solar photovoltaic industry has been one of
the most dynamic in the world, with an annual growth rate of more
than 40% (Malvoni et al., 2017a). With the global increase in PV capacity
being observed in various locations, the assessment of solar PV systems
and technology has become an important issue to determine its suitabil-
ity for a specific location. Many technical and climatic factors can influ-
ence the performance of the PV system, such as the irradiation plane of
the installation, temperature, wind speed, humidity, technology of the
PV modules used, dust, and degradation, etc. In addition, the study of
PV installations under real outdoor conditions and research into system
performance allows the technical, environmental and economic bene-
fits (annual yield, reduction of CO2 emissions, and investment in PV
technology) to be determined. Numerous studies have been published
on the performance of PV systems, either through simulation or real
case studies, under different climatic conditions and geographical loca-
tions such as in Mauritania (El Hacen Jed, Ihaddadene, Ihaddadene,
Elhadji Sidi, & EL Bah, 2020; Elhadj Sidi et al., 2016), Malaysia
(Farhoodnea, Mohamed, Khatib, & Elmenreich, 2015), Kuwait (Al-
Otaibi, Al-Qattan, Fairouz, & Al-Mulla, 2015), Morocco (Tihane,
Boulaid, Elfanaoui, Nya, & Ihlal, 2020), Turkey (Duman & Güler, 2020),
Iran (Bakhshi & Sadeh, 2018), New Delhi (Tomar & Tiwari, 2017),
China (Li, Zhou, & Zheng, 2018), Central Anatolian (Ozden, Akinoglu, &
Turan, 2017), Algeria (Haffaf, Lakdja, Ould Abdeslam, & Meziane,
2019), Poland (Zdyb & Gulkowski, 2020) and Jordan (Sayigh, 2017).
In (Gaglia, Lykoudis, Argiriou, Balaras, & Dialynas, 2017), the charac-
teristics and performance analysis of multi-crystalline PV panels installed
under real conditions in Athens, Greece, are presented. In Palestine (Omar
& Mahmoud, 2018), three grid-connected PV systems of 5 kWp each were
evaluated in technical and economic terms using measured data from two
years of operation. Moreover, in Adrar, in southern Algeria (Sahouane
et al., 2019), an analysis of the performance of a 28 kWp PV system
installed on the roof of the research unit on renewable energies in the Sa-
haran region was performed. In Tamilnadu, India (Kumar & Nagarajan,
2016), an 80 KWp grid-connected PV power plant, installed in April
2015 on the campus of GRT IET, was monitored for six months. In Kumasi,
Ghana, the outdoor performance analysis of a 20 kW PV system installed
in a humid tropical climate on the roof of the Kwame Nkrumah university
Fig. 1. Location of the IUT and Mulhouse city on the France map.
45
Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55
buildings was performed using five different solar cell technologies
(Quansah, Adaramola, Appiah, & Edwin, 2017).
In Sohar, Oman (Kazem, Khatib, Sopian, & Elmenreich, 2014), a prac-
tice for the design and assessment of PV systems using hourly data on
ambient temperature and solar radiation was carried out. The 1.4 kW
grid-connected PV system on the roof was implemented in a practical
manner and tested over a six-month period to assess its feasibility and
productivity. In South Africa (Okello, van Dyk, & Vorster, 2015), a
3.2 kWp grid-connected PV system consisting of 14 polycrystalline sili-
con modules was studied, the simulated and actual measured perfor-
mance was compared and analyzed. In Tangier, Morocco (Herbazi
et al., 2019), the study and performance analysis of a 2 kWp grid-
connected PV system installed on the roof of the faculty of science and
technology was performed taking into consideration the final yield, ca-
pacity utilization factor, performance ratio and system efficiency. In
(Lima, Ferreira, & Morais, 2017), the performance analysis of a 2.2
kWp PV system in Fortaleza, Brazil is analyzed by the author. The sys-
tem was monitored from June 2013 to May 2014, the energy yield, per-
formance ratio and capacity factor as well as system losses were
analyzed. In (Malvoni, Leggieri, Maggiotto, Congedo, & De Giorgi,
2017b), monitoring data over a 43-month period were used to analyze
the performance of a 960 kWp PV system installed in southern Italy. The
performance of a 27 kWp grid-connected PV system operating in the cli-
matic conditions of Suriname was monitored and reported. The mea-
sured system parameters were compared with the values obtained
from the system simulation using the PVsyst software (Raghoebarsing
& Kalpoe, 2017).
According to the literature review, the authors argue that the instal-
lation rate of PV systems is increasing and that, as a result, there is a
growing number of research papers dealing with the technical and eco-
nomic feasibility of different types of photovoltaic systems. In addition,
these studies show that the efficiency of solar PV systems depends on
various factors such as location, technical data and climatic conditions,
etc. Currently, there are two ways in the literature that can be used to
understand and analyze the operational performance of photovoltaic
systems; either by simulation or by experimental analysis. Moreover,
various studies have investigated the simulation of photovoltaic sys-
tems using software tools, including Solar Advisory Model (SAM),
PVsyst, PV-Online, Solar-GIS, etc. However, the popular software such
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al.
Fig. 2. Simplified schematic diagram of grid-connected PV system.
as PVGIS, PV Watts and HOMER (for the performance assessment of PV
systems) are not widely reported. In addition, most research papers use
a single software for photovoltaic system performance analysis. Only in
a few cases, comparisons between the measured data and the results of
predictions using software were provided.
However, the real study under experimental conditions of the PV
system in such a region to analyze its performance and determine its
potential remains the most realistic and reliable because it is based on
real data from an existing and installed PV system. In the context of
France, there is little information available in the literature on the feasi-
bility of photovoltaic systems. To our knowledge, there are no studies on
the performance analysis and assessment of the energy production of
PV systems operating under real conditions in this region.
This research work therefore aims to fill the above-mentioned re-
search gaps, and represents the first performance analysis of a 2.4 kWp
grid-connected PV system. The system was installed in August 2018 at
the Institute University of Technology (IUT) in Mulhouse, France. Various
parameters as defined by IEC 61724 were calculated and analyzed using
data of system operation from August 2018 to May 2020, including en-
ergy generation and yield factor (YF), capacity utilization factor (CUF),
and the CO2 emissions avoided by the system. Another novelty of this
paper is the use of three different popular software PVGIS, PV Watts and
HOMER for the simulation of the investigated PV system. The simulation
results of the photovoltaic system using different software are presented,
analyzed and compared with the actual performance. The performance
analysis is presented, as well as a comparison of the results obtained
with other results available in the literature.
Fig. 3. Photos of the studied 2.4 kWp grid-connected photovoltaic system.
46
Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55
Case study description and available data
Location and climatic conditions
The 2.4 kWp grid-connected PV system under study, which was
scheduled to be commissioned in August 2018, was installed outside
the Institute University of Technology (IUT) in Mulhouse, eastern
France. The university is located at 47°43.8′ north latitude and 7°18.1′
east longitude. Fig. 1 shows the location of the IUT and the city of Mul-
house on the map of France.
System description
Fig. 2 shows the architecture of a grid-connected PV system, which
first consisted of a PV array that produces direct current (DC) as a func-
tion of weather conditions in terms of solar irradiation and ambient
temperature. Next, an inverter was used to convert the direct current
from the PV generator into alternating current (AC) 230–240 V and syn-
chronized with the grid frequency of 50 Hz. This current was then either
consumed or fed into the public grid. The PV system under study had a
nominal output of 2.4 kWp and was completed in early August 2018.
The PV system was composed of 8 solar modules based on vertically ori-
ented mono crystalline technology, and each panel had a nominal rated
power of 300 Wp.
The tilt angle of the photovoltaic module is the angle at which the
panels are mounted with respect to the horizontal, where a tilt angle
of 0° means the horizontal position and 90° means the vertical one.
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55

Table 1 Tables 1 and 2 summarize the detailed specifications of the PV mod-

Detailed technical and electrical specification of PV module. ules used in the standard test conditions (1000 W/m2 and 25 °C) as well
Module type Mono-crystalline as the main technical parameters of the micro-inverter. It is important
Manufacturer VOLTEC to note that each of the 4 PV panels are mounted separately and each
Weight 18,6 kg tow solar photovoltaic modules were connected to a micro-inverter as
Dimensions and quantity/panel 156 × 156 mm/60 cells
shown in Fig. 4. The module-integrated converters (micro-inverter) in-
Voltage at max. power, Vpmax 33.4 V
Current at max. power, Ipmax 9.0 I clude a maximum power point tracking system which makes the best
Maximum power at STC 300 Wp use of all PV modules to maximize the electricity production and offers
Short-circuit current 9.5 A a combination of high reliability and efficiency. It is an innovative and
Open-circuit voltage 40.4 V
new grid-connected micro-inverter with the function of power factor
Temperature coefficient of Pmax −0.395%/°C
Short-circuit current coefficient 0.027%/°C
management. In addition, it uses the latest communication technologies
Open-circuit voltage coefficient −0.293%/°C for intelligent management and control of the installation by adjusting
Power tolerance From +0 to +5Wp the power factor. In this way, it meets the needs of energy suppliers
Area performance 18,1% by facilitating grid integration.

System performance analysis

Table 2 The performance indicators developed by the International Energy

Technical specifications of the inverter. Agency (IEA), which are given by the IEC 61724 standard (IEC, 1998),
Model Type YC600 and are widely discussed in the literature (Lima et al., 2017; Malvoni
Input data (DC)
et al., 2017b; Manoj Kumar, Sudhakar, & Samykano, 2019), were used
Recommended module power (STC) 250 Wp-365 Wp/60–72 cells to analyze the performance of the investigated 2.4 kWp grid-
Maximum DC input voltage 55 V connected photovoltaic system. The efficiency assessment of the PV sys-
Maximum DC input current 12 A × 2 tem was evaluated using various parameters including the AC energy
Operating voltage range 16 V–55 V
produced by the photovoltaic system, the YF, the CUF, and the CO2 emis-
Output data (AC) sions. The determination of some these parameters helps to compare
Maximum output power 600 VA the performance of this system with other photovoltaic systems under
Rated output voltage 230 V
different operational conditions, regardless of their installed capacity
Rated output current 2.39 A
Nominal frequency 50 Hz and location. These performance parameters are explained in this sec-
tion. Firstly, the PV panels are known to produce energy by converting
Efficiency
sunlight. The output power as a function of the hourly solar radiation
Maximum efficiency 95.5%
Nominal MPPT efficiency 99.5% can be calculated using Eq. (1) (Zhao, Xu, Zhang, Wang, & Dai, 2020).
 
R


wPV ðt Þ ¼ W rated,PV 1 þ N T T c −T ref ð1Þ
Rref

According to the literature, generally in the case of fixed systems, the
annual maximum PV power output is obtained at a tilt angle approxi-
mately equal to the latitude of the site location. As the angles of sunlight
change with the hours of the day and the seasons, solar tracking tech-
nology can adjust the solar panel's tilt angle and azimuth by maximizing
exposure to the sun's rays to achieve the highest solar irradiation inten-
sity and PV generation. In this study, the solar photovoltaic modules
were south-facing and were mounted on metal frames that were sup-
ported by a fixed concrete column (Fig. 3). In addition, a vertical solar
tracking equipment that follows the east-west direction for azimuth ad-
justment was integrated into the PV system to maximize the efficiency
of solar energy conversion.
where wPV (t) is the power output at time t of PV panel, Wrated, PV is the
PV panel rated power, R is the real solar radiation, Rref and Tref are re-
spectively the solar radiation and PV cell temperature at the standard
test condition (usually 1000 W/m2, 25 °C). NT is the temperature coeffi-
cient of the PV panel.
The photovoltaic system produces electricity in the form of direct
current (DC), which is then converted to alternating current (AC)
through the inverter. The PV system's productivity can be analyzed in
terms of direct or alternating power output either on an hourly,
monthly or annual basis. The yield factor (YF) is the second used perfor-
mance index which is defined as the ratio of the AC energy produced EAC
from the PV system to the nominal capacity of the installed PV system

Fig. 4. PV panel and micro-inverter connection diagram.

47
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55

Table 3
Some parameters used for photovoltaic system performance analysis.

Parameter Equation Variables description

DC energy production (EDC) EDC, d = ∑t itfEDC, t, EDC, m = ∑t=N

t=1 EDC, d EDC,d and EDC,m are the daily and monthly PV energy produced, ti and
tf are respectively the time of sunrise and sunset, and N is the
number of days.
AC energy production (EAC) EAC, h = ∑60 24
t=1EAC, t, EAC, d = ∑h=1EAC, h EAC,t, EAC,h and EAC,d in (kWh) are the hourly, daily and monthly AC
EAC, m = ∑Nd=1EAC, d energy output of PV system at time t (in min), hour (h) and day (d),
respectively. And N is the number of days in a month.
Yield factor (YF) YF = EAC, out[kWhAC]/PPV, rated[kWDC] YF is the yield factor in (kWh/kWp) or hours/day, EAC, out in (kWh) is
the AC energy output, and PPV,rated in (kW) is the rated capacity of PV
system.
Capacity utilization factor (CUF) CUF ¼ 24⁎365
YF
¼ EAC,out =P PV,rated ⁎ð8760Þ CUF is the capacity utilization factor in (%), YF is the yield factor, EAC,
out in (kWh) is the AC energy output from photovoltaic system.
Performance ratio (PR) PR ¼ YR
YF
ð%Þ ¼ EGrid =GlobInc⁎P PV,rated PR is the performance ratio (%), YR is the reference yield (kWh/m2),
EGrid (kWh) is the AC produced energy that is injected into the grid,
GlobInc is the global incident in collector plane.
CO2 emissions Mitigated CO2emissions = AEO ∗ EF The mitigated CO2 is given in tCO2/kWh, AEO is annual energy output
of the PV system (kWh), and EF is the emission factor (the released
amount of CO2 emissions per kWh).

(kWp). The yield factor can be estimated for a specific period of time 2018) until May 31, 2020. The output power of the PV system was
(daily, monthly, and annual basis). first analyzed. Daily system data was measured from sunrise to sunset
In addition, the capacity utilization factor (CUF) is also used and is de- during a 5-minute interval. Figs. 5 and 6 show the daily output power
fined as the ratio between the AC energy production over a given period of the PV system for the two years 2019 and 2020 for one winter day
of time and the maximum amount of energy that the PV system can gen- (January 01) and one summer day (June 01), respectively, to demon-
erate if it is operated at the nominal rated power for the entire period strate the effect of weather conditions.
(usually one year). In other, the performance ratio (PR) can also be used In Fig. 6, the flatness of the photovoltaic energy production is ob-
for PV system performance analysis; it is defined as the ratio between served instead of the more familiar bell-like curve, i.e., peaking around
the final yield and the reference yield and indicates the overall effect of 12:00 or 13:00. The output power profile of this form of flatness over
losses in the energy production of a solar photovoltaic system. It can the course of the day is due to the presence of the tracker that is inte-
also be defined as the energy actually produced compared to the energy grated in the PV system under study. It is used to capture the maximum
that would be produced under standard test conditions (STC). Finally, of solar irradiation for maximum system productivity.
from an environmental point of view, the maximum mitigated CO2 emis- Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show respectively the total instantaneous AC energy
sions resulting from the use of this photovoltaic system is quantified. production of the PV system over the monitored period including (Au-
Table 3 provides the mathematical expressions of the normalized param- gust 10 to December 31) for the year 2018, a full year of 2019 (January
eters characterizing the PV system's operation performance examined in 1 to December 31) and the PV production during the months of this year
this study with a brief description of the different variables. 2020 (January 1 to May 31). The PV system was installed in August,
i.e., during the summer months when the solar potential is high,
Results and discussion which justifies the high daily energy production during this period
(16.71 kWh) for August 11, 2018, as shown in Fig. 8. Thereafter, the en-
Weather parameter analysis ergy produced decreased with time and showed low values during the
months of November and December, with about 0.36 kWh on Decem-
The assessment and analysis of the climatic data of the study area is ber 2, 2018.
an important step in the analysis of the performance of PV systems. Me- For the year 2019 (from January 1 to December 31), the highest
teorological data can be imported from various sources and software values of the energy produced are concentrated during the summer pe-
such as the Meteonorm database, PVGIS site, and NASA, etc. In this riod as well as during the months of May, June and July, i.e., during
study, the available data in the area regarding the monthly average which the solar radiation is relatively higher. The maximum production
solar irradiation (kWh/m2/day), average wind speed, clearness index is observed for May 14, 2019 with 24.67 kWh. On the other hand, the
and the ambient temperature were collected from NASA Surface Mete-
orology and Solar Energy database using HOMER software (NASA
surface meteorology and solar energy, n.d.), and presented in Table 4.
Table 4
The area under consideration receives an average daily solar radia-
Weather data and climatic conditions of location under study.
tion of about 3.33 kWh/m2/day, the lowest value is 0.98 kWh/m2/day
in December. A maximum of 5.75 kWh/m2/day is recorded during the Month Solar radiation Clearness index Wind speed Daily ambient
(kWh/m2/day) (m/s) temperature (°C)
month of July. The minimum and maximum wind speed values are
3.71 m/s and 6.4 m/s respectively, while the average annual wind speed Jan 1.24 0.424 6.4 −1.89
Feb 2 0.454 4.92 −0.72
in the region is 4.86 m/s. The annual average clearness index is 0.46.
Mar 3.16 0.475 5.85 2.97
The ambient temperature varies between the maximum of 17.22 °C Apr 4.17 0.461 4.84 6.36
which is recorded in August and the minimum is recorded in December May 5.06 0.467 4.69 11.47
with −0.64 °C. Jun 5.67 0.49 3.71 14.63
Jul 5.75 0.517 3.74 17.14
Aug 4.97 0.52 3.77 17.22
Analysis of the PV output power Sep 3.51 0.481 4.28 12.69
Oct 2.14 0.433 4.34 8.48
The performance of the 2.4 kWp grid-connected PV system was Nov 1.32 0.413 5.83 2.3
Dec 0.98 0.393 5.89 −0.64
monitored from the beginning of the system installation (August

48
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55

Fig. 5. Daily power output of PV system in a winter day (January 01).

Fig. 6. Daily power output of PV system in a summer day (June 01).

Fig. 7. Daily energy generation for 2018 (August 10 to December 31).

Fig. 8. Daily energy production for a full year of 2019.

49
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al.
Fig. 9. Daily energy generation for 2020 (from January 1 to May 31).
lowest values of daily energy produced were observed during the rainy
months (January, December), i.e., 0.06 kWh and 0.15 are observed for
the dates of December 20 and January 13, respectively.
For the year 2020 (Fig. 9), it can be observed that the daily energy
production is gradually increased towards the most productive period
of the PV system where the solar radiation is relatively higher. Accord-
ing to the results, the maximum daily energy production is estimated
at 21.52 kWh (May 7, 2020).
Fig. 10 shows the total energy produced per month during the oper-
ating period of the photovoltaic system. During the first year 2018
(Fig. 10a) of the system's operating period, total energy production
per month ranged from a low of 43.99 kWh in December to a high of
312.91 kWh in September. The low value of the energy produced in
Fig. 10. Monthly variation in energy production for 2018 (a), 2019 (b) and 2020 (c).
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Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55
August, despite the high relative solar radiation, is justified by the
short operating period of the system during this month. For the year
2019 (Fig. 10b), the monthly production of electricity is increased
from January to July and then gradually decreased until December.
The most productive period of the PV system is observed in June and
July with 455.18 kWh and 468.44 kWh respectively. However, based
on the results, the lowest value of electricity produced each month is
69.79 kWh (in November and 74.03 kWh in January 2019).
Furthermore, the results indicate that for the year 2020,
i.e., January 1 to May 31 (Fig. 10c), the lowest value of monthly en-
ergy produced is 116.29 kWh in January, and the highest value of en-
ergy produced during the period measured is 449.73 kWh in April
2020. Comparison of the energy production between the years
2020 and 2019 in the period from January 1 to May 31 shows that
the energy production in the year 2020 is higher than in the year
2019. It is important to note that the energy production for the Au-
gust to December period of the year 2019 (1057.64 kWh) is higher
than that of the year 2018 (923.41 kWh). The installed 2.4 kWp PV
system produced on an annual basis 968.43 kWh, 3246.47 kWh and
1382.75 kWh for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The
energy generated by the system over its lifetime and the emissions
emitted are estimated at 5597.65 kWh and 4.17 tons respectively.
Therefore, energy production based on solar PV systems is a good en-
vironmentally friendly option.
Variation in YF and CUF
The YF represented in kWh/kWp and the CUF in % were evaluated
using equations (Table 3), are used to define the performance of the
PV system. Fig. 11 shows the monthly variation in the YF and CUF of
the PV system under study for the operating period of each year. It can
be seen that the lowest values occurred during the rainy months (Janu-
ary, February, October and December).
For the year 2018, the monthly minimum and maximum YF aver-
ages are recorded in December with 18.32 kWh/kWp, and in September
with 130.37 kWh/kWp, respectively. Similarly, the maximum monthly
CUF is 18.1% for the highest AC power generation of 312.91 kWh,
while the minimum monthly average value is 2.54% for the lowest
power generation of 43.99 kWh recorded for September and December,
respectively. The monthly average CUF of the PV system for 5 months of
operation in 2018 is 10.61%.
The highest observed value of the monthly YF and CUF of
195.18 kWh/kWp and 27.10% is recorded in July 2019, with a low of
29.08 kWh/kWp and 4.04% recorded in November due to the lower en-
ergy produced during this period. The 2.4 kWp PV system gives approx-
imately the annual average value of 15.65% CUF and a daily YF of
3.75 kWh/kWp/day. However, during the system's 2020 operating pe-
riod (January 1 to May 31), 187.38 kWh/kWp and 26.02% are the max-
imum monthly YF and CUF, respectively, observed in April 2020. The
minimum is recorded in January due to the solar potential which is
also low during this period. The average monthly CUF of the PV system
for this operating period is 16.00%.
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55

2.4 kWp system with other results for different systems installed in dif-
ferent locations in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The monthly average annual
average YF of this PV system studied (3.75 h/d) is lower or higher than
that of other systems in the world. It is higher than some previous stud-
ies conducted in Ireland (2.4 h/d), Suriname (3.7 h/d), and Ghana
(2.75 h/d) and is consistent with the results of the majority of PV sys-
tems in the literature. The same is true for the annual average CUF of
the PV system, which is lower or higher than that of several systems
and relatively close to some sites in Italy, Bhubaneswar in India, and
Paramaribo in Suriname.

PV system simulation

The grid-connected 2.4 kWp PV system was also simulated using

three popular software tools, including PVGIS, PV Watts and HOMER,
to assess and predict the total monthly and annual energy production,
and compare its feasibility and performance analysis. This section pre-
sents and analyses the comparison between the measured output
power values and the results obtained through the simulation of photo-
voltaic system.

PVGIS

The PVGIS (Photovoltaic Geographical Information System), is one of

the main tools used for the estimation of solar irradiation, PV generation
and the analysis of economic parameters. This software allows the cal-
culation of monthly and annual electricity production for grid-
connected photovoltaic systems and also for isolated sites in Europe,
Africa and now in Asia and America. A number of input parameters
are required for simulation by the PVGIS tool, namely site location, se-
lection of the radiation database, nominal power of the PV system, PV
technology, installation type, tilt and azimuth angles, and the PV elec-
tricity price. The user of PVGIS can perform different types of analysis
such as grid-connected and off-grid PV systems performance, PV track-
ing performance, solar irradiance data on hourly, daily and monthly ba-
sics, and typical meteorological year (TMY) files (Manoj Kumar et al.,
2019; Photovoltaic geographical information system (PVGIS), n.d.).

Fig. 11. Monthly variation of yield factor and capacity utilization factor for 2018 (a), 2019
(b), and 2020 (c). PV Watts

The PV Watts calculator is a useful map-based tool developed by the

Comparative analysis
The YF and CUF are significant parameters that can be used for the
assessment of grid-connected PV systems. Table 5 summarizes the re-
sults of a comparison of the final energy YF and CUF obtained for the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), suitable for very prelim-
inary studies of a photovoltaic system. PV Watts estimates the annual
and monthly electricity production over a one-year period of a grid-
connected or ground-mounted photovoltaic system, based on a few
simple inputs (including location, DC system size, module type, array

Table 5
Performance comparison of PV systems installed in different locations.

Location PV technology System size YF CUF Reference

(kWp) (h/day) (%)

Adrar, Algeria mc-Si 28 4.42 18.58 (Sahouane et al., 2019)

Tamilnadu, India mc-Si 80 4.45 18.26 (Kumar & Nagarajan, 2016)
Kumasi, Ghana mc-Si 20 2.75 11.47 (Quansah et al., 2017)
Sohar, Oman p-Si 1.4 5.14 21 (Kazem et al., 2014)
Eastern Cape, South Africa P-Si 3.22 4.9 20.41 (Okello et al., 2015)
Tangier, Morocco p-Si 2 4.72 19.71 (Herbazi et al., 2019)
Fortaleza, Brazil – 2.2 4.6 19.2 (Lima et al., 2017)
Lecce, Italy m-Si 960 3.8 15.6 (Malvoni et al., 2017b)
Paramaribo, Suriname pc-Si 27 3.7 15.5 (Raghoebarsing & Kalpoe, 2017)
Dublin, Ireland mc-Si 1.72 2.4 10.1 (Ayompe, Duffy, McCormack, et al., 2011)
Casablanca, Morocco a-Si 2.04 4.33 18.05 (Haibaoui, Hartiti, Elamim, Karami, & Ridah, 2017)
Bhubaneswar, India p-Si 11.2 3.67 15.27 (Sharma & Goel, 2017)
Mugla, Turkey p-Si 2.73 3.87 – (Eke & Demircan, 2013)
Chania, Greece a-Si/μc-Si 2.18 4.2 – (Savvakis & Tsoutsos, 2015)
Mulhouse, France mc-Si 2.4 3.75 15.65 This study

51
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al.
type, tilt angle and azimuth, etc.). It can also estimate monthly and annual
solar irradiation and PV energy production on an hourly basis (PV Watts
tool, n.d.; Manoj Kumar et al., 2019). Solar resource data is the solar irra-
diance and meteorological data that describe and show the conditions at
the system's position. For PV Watts, radiation data for the selected loca-
tion is taken from the NREL National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB)
for the nearest city in which the TMY2 and TMY3 database is available.
HOMER software
The HOMER (Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources)
software, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL), is used to study the technical and economic feasibility of
possible configurations with different technologies (photovoltaic,
hydro, wind, fuel cells, storage, and diesel) for both off-grid and power
grid-connected applications. The software requires a declaration of
economical, technical and constraint data to model each configuration
and perform the sensitivity analysis (Thierry Odou, Bhandari, &
Adamou, 2020). In this study, HOMER was used for the modeling and
assessment of grid-connected PV system. Fig. 12 shows the steps for
simulating a 2.4 kWp PV system using different tools.
Furthermore, some assumptions and inputs data were used for pho-
tovoltaic system simulation including location (latitude and longitude),
PV system size, solar radiation database, tilt angle, system losses, and
others factors. Table 6 lists the basic assumption and specifications re-
quired to perform the PV system simulation. In addition, for PV system
simulation, solar resource potentials were taken from the radiation da-
tabases available in PVGIS and NREL including the PVGIS-SARAH data-
base. It can be noted that the different software tools PVGIS, HOMER,
and PV Watts offer the possibility to simulate different types of solar
tracking, including horizontal axis, vertical axis, as well as two-axis
solar tracking systems.
As a result, Fig. 13 shows the measured monthly output power of the
solar photovoltaic system, as well as the values estimated using soft-
ware tools. The measured monthly energy output varies from a mini-
mum of 74.03 kWh in January to a maximum of 468.44 kWh in July,
with an annual energy production of 3246.46 kWh. Based on the
Fig. 12. Photovoltaic system simulation step using software.
52
Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55
Table 6
Assumptions and input specifications for PV system simulation.
Assumptions Value/information
Location name IUT of Mulhouse, France
Latitude 47°43.8′ North
Longitude 7°18.1′ East
PV system peak power 2.4 kWp
Tracking Vertical axis
Tilt angle 45°
Orientation South facing
Ground coverage ratio 0.4
System losses 14%
Inverter efficiency 96%
DC to AC ratio 0.9%
simulation results, the maximum AC output energy of the PV system
was estimated at 448.9 kWh in July using the PVGIS tool; the minimum
output was estimated at 138.7 kWh in December. In PV Watts, the
monthly energy output is observed at a maximum of 430 kWh in
March and a minimum of 67 kWh in December.
For the HOMER software, the monthly energy generations of system
are ranged from a minimum of 66 kWh for December and the maximum
generated during the month of July with 428 kWh. The simulated PV
system produces a total of 3002 kWh/year during 4348 h of operation
with a rated capacity, average power, maximum power and capacity
factor of 2.4 kW, 0.343 kW, 2.66 kW, and 14.3%, respectively. The mea-
sured annual total energy generated by the PV system is 3246.46 kWh.
The corresponding simulated results for annual energy output are
3645.2 kWh, 3020 kWh and 3002 kWh from PVGIS, PV Watts and
HOMER, respectively.
It can be seen that the PVGIS simulation tool overestimated the PV
generation of the PV system by approximately 10% compared to the
measured result. The major difference compared to the measured
values is observed particularly for the months of January, March, April
and from October to December. However, PV Watts and HOMER rela-
tively underestimated the PV system output power and gave a deviation
of −6% and −7%, respectively. Comparing the simulated energy values
between the software used, there is a difference of 17.15% between the
PVGIS and PV Watts tools, and a difference of 17.64% between the PVGIS
and HOMER. However, a small variation is observed between the two
software tools HOMER and PV Watts.
Figs. 14 and 15 show the monthly average measured and simulated
values of the yield factor and the capacity utilization factor of the PV grid
connected system. The CUF and YF results vary from month to month,
the lowest monthly measured final yield is 30.84 kWh/kWp in January
and the highest YF is recorded in June with 195.18 kWh/kWp.
However, the highest yield factor in the PVGIS tool is observed in
March with 187.04 kWh/kWp and the minimum of 57.79 kWh/
kWp is registered in December. The corresponding values obtained
from the PV Watts simulations are 179.16 kWh/kWp in July and
31.66 kWh/kWp in November month. The average measured annual
YF value is 1352.69 kWh/kWp, while the corresponding predicted
yield factor values are 1518.83 kWh/kWp, 1250.33 kWh/kWp, and
1250.83 kWh/kWp, obtained for PVGIS, PV Watts, and HOMER soft-
ware, respectively.
The predicted values of the annual yield factor per PV Watts and
HOMER are very close together and are slightly underestimated com-
pared to the measured values. Whereas the PVGIS software predicts a
different and higher annual YF than the measured values.
In addition, the simulated CUF values ranged from a minimum of
8.02% in December to a maximum of 24.60% in August for the PVGIS
tool. However, the PV Watts showed the highest CUF of the PV system
installed during July with 24.88% and the lowest of 3.87% is observed
in December. The monthly yield factor and the CUF for the HOMER soft-
ware range respectively between 27.5 and 178.33kWh/kWp and 3.81–
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al. Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55

Fig. 13. System energy output measured vs. simulated.

Fig. 14. Comparison of measured and simulated yield factor.

24.76%. The maximum value is recorded in July and the minimum value
is recorded in December. The average annual CUF values are 17.33%
(PVGIS), 14.27% (HOMER), and 14.36% (PV Watts) compared to the
measured CUF of 15.65%. The results show that the CUF values obtained
by HOMER and PV Watts are very close even with the measured values.
However, the annual capacity utilization factor predicted by PVGIS is a
little higher than the measured values. The same results are observed
for the values of the annual yield factor.
Overall, the results show that the three software PVGIS, PV
Watts and HOMER seem to be good tools for the prediction of pho-
tovoltaic power production, with a small difference in the results
between the three software used. Furthermore, there is a deviation
between the simulated and monitored energy performance of the
photovoltaic system which is dependent on each software. The dif-
ferences between the simulation results and the measured values
are mainly due to a number of reasons such as the difference be-
tween the actual and estimated solar irradiation and ambient tem-
perature, which is depends on the meteorological database used,
and also to the difference and detail required by each software in
the input parameters during the PV simulation. Finally, Fig. 16
shows the simulation results on a monthly basis obtained with
the PVGIS software. These results show the difference in photovol-
taic energy production with and without solar tracking system for
comparison purposes.
The average monthly energy productions from the simulated system
with solar tracking are always higher than the obtained with the fixed

Fig. 15. Capacity utilization factor measured vs. simulated results.

53
A. Haffaf, F. Lakdja, D. Ould Abdeslam et al.
Fig. 16. Simulated PV tracker comparison.
system. The annual energy generation is estimated at 3645.96 kWh
and 2834.13 kWh respectively for the tracked system and the non-
tracked one, which shows the advantage of integrating solar trackers to
maximize the photovoltaic energy conversion.
Conclusion
In this study, a 2.4 kWp grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system
based on mc-Si technology and installed outside at the IUT in Mulhouse,
France, was monitored and its performance analyzed. The performance
parameters of the PV system in terms of energy production, yield factor
and capacity utilization factor according to IEA standards were assessed
and analyzed on a monthly and annual basis over the operation period
of system from August 2018 to May 2020. The investigated PV grid con-
nected system is also simulated using three different software tools,
PVGIS, PV Watts and HOMER software. Based on the results obtained,
it can be noted that the monthly electricity production varies between
the minimum and maximum of 43.99–312.91 kWh, 69.79–469.44 kWh
and 116.29–449.73 kWh for the three operation periods of 2018, 2019
and 2020, respectively. The total energy produced is 968.43 kWh,
3246.47 kWh and 1382.75 kWh during the measurement period in
2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The annual average final yield and
the annual average capacity factor of the analyzed PV system for the
year 2019 are 3.75 h/d and 15.65%, respectively. In addition, the total
electricity produced and CO2 emissions released by the PV system over
its lifetime are 5597.65 kWh and 4.17 tons.
The performance indicator results obtained in this study in terms of
final yield and capacity utilization factor were compared to other sys-
tems installed at different locations around the world. The results
show that they are within the range of values reported internationally.
The YF of 3.75 kWh/kWp/day obtained demonstrates the high perfor-
mance of the PV system under study, and it is higher, lower and closer
to the values reported in a number of locations, except for South
Africa, Algeria and Morocco. The simulation results of the different soft-
ware are compared with the experimental results, they demonstrate
that the PVGIS returns overestimated values compared to the measured
values, while the values obtained by HOMER and PV Watts are
underestimated but are relatively close to the measured one. Finally,
the annual average YF and the data obtained are acceptable indicators
that highlight the relatively good performance of grid-connected PV in-
stallations in this area. In addition, this paper constitutes a valuable
experimental resource to provide a general overview of the perfor-
mance of photovoltaic systems in the Mulhouse region, as well as to
provide a set of useful datasets that can be used for future comparative
and studies.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
54
Energy for Sustainable Development 62 (2021) 44–55
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