Simulation and Calculation of AEP using PVSyst of Grid connected
100 kW Solar PV Project in Noida, U.P
Final Project Report
Solar Pv Designing and Modelling
-Rahul Nakka
Vardhan Consulting Engineers
Executive Summary
This whole point of the Reports and Tasks during this internship is to build
your basic presentation and reporting skills and the topic that I have chosen is
SOLAR PV DESINGING. It has got a good potential for making a revolutionary change
in the Energy Generations by attuning to the Renewable Energy Sources rather than
the Conventional Fossil fuels. I would like to express my gratitude to the Vardhan
Consulting Engineers organisation for mentoring and guiding through the entire
process of gaining knowledge on this Project. They provided a good platform for
learning and doing this internship, by which I have learnt the basic understanding
on Solar Resource Assessment and Designing of a Solar Plant with a good
Performance Ratio. The VCE organisation taught me about the PVSyst software,
which is good tool for designing and calculating the Annual Energy Production of
the Solar Plant at any desired location. I was also able to build the necessary
corporate skills, and other non-listed skills during this internship. It was a great
opportunity provided for me and I liked working under their guidance.
List of Contents
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Prospects of Solar Energy In India
2.0 System Design and Objectives
2.1 Site selection and solar data of Solar Power Plant
2.2 Selecting and sizing of Solar PV module and inverter
2.3 Other Parameters to be adjusted for better efficiency
3.0 Results Calculated Using PVSyst Software
3.1 Simulation and Results
3.2 Performance Ratio
4.0 Challenges in Installing the PV Plant
5.0 Conclusion
6.0 References
1.0 Introduction
Renewable energies have experienced significant growth in recent years,
and It becomes a more critical type of energy in developed and developing
countries in order to produce electricity. Among these technologies, solar energy
considered an optimistic type of energy since it grows faster. It produces clean
electricity from the Sun, which considers a stable and efficient energy technology.
Solar energy is set to become an economical method in the coming years since it
has better technology in terms of applications and cost. Moreover, the sun is free
and considered an unlimited source of energy. The significant advantage of solar
energy over other traditional power generators is that the sunlight converted
directly into solar energy with the use of a solar photovoltaic system.
1.1 Prospects of Solar
Energy In India
India is aiming to
attain 175 GW of renewable
energy which would consist of
100 GW from solar energy, 10
GW from bio-power, 60 GW
from wind power, and 5 GW
from small hydropower plants
by the year 2022. The
geographical location of India is
Figure 1 Installed Solar Capacity across different states in India such that it cannot only
produce enough energy to meet
its own requirements, but also produce enough energy for the entire world!
Because it falls in the tropical region, it receives generous amounts of solar
radiation all through the year amounting to nearly 3,000 long hours of sunshine.
The states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab,
Haryana and Maharashtra have incredulous amounts of potential to tap solar
energy, owing to their strategic location. At present, the Thar region in Rajasthan
is home to some of the best solar projects of the country, generating close to 2,100
GW power. Gujarat houses one of the largest solar power plants in India.
One more reason as to why the future of India’s electricity lies inevitably in
harnessing solar energy is because of the number of ways in which the radiation of
the sun can be put to use—from solar panels that are the backbone of any solar
system, solar inverters, solar street lights, solar UPSs, solar fans, solar lanterns,
solar cables, solar mobile chargers, solar power conditioning units, solar home
systems, solar road safety equipment and solar fencing to even solar CCTV cameras.
2.0 System Design and Objectives
In this article a Solar PhotoVoltaic Plant in Noida, U.P is proposed and the
Solar Resource Assessment is done using the PVSyst Software and the Overall
efficiency and AEP is calculated and other results are presented in here.
Designing of PV plants require thousands of PV panels, and each panel
produces hundreds of watts. During the design procedures of the PV plant, the
designer needs to select and choose the right number, size, and type of PV modules
and inverters. Furthermore, components are to be installed with utmost
attentiveness in order to develop a reliable and efficient PV plant by ensuring that
the lifetime of the plant is long enough'. The PV
plants design of 100kW requires a decent
knowledge about the system and components.
Therefore, the designer will need to know more
about the site selection and solar data,
components and specification, the efficiency of
Solar PV, design optimization, and cost analysis.
2.1 Site selection and solar data of
Solar Power Plant
Noida is about 25 kilometres (16 mi)
southeast of New Delhi and lies in close to the
Rajasthan, which has got the best solar
Figure 2 Monthly Solar Irradiation of NOIDA
irradiance in India. The area of Noida can be
considered as an ideal location for solar energy
utilization since it exposed to the sun's rays throughout the year for long hours
during the days. The average solar irradiance throughout the year is about 5.50
kWh / m2 / day and since it is located in the Central India, it is also feasible to
transmit the energy all across our country. So, by installing an effective plant we
can generate sufficiently large amount of energy for lighting up thousands of
residential homes and that too with the help of clean and zero carbon energy.
2.2 Selecting and sizing of Solar PV module and inverter
Efficiency and cost are the factors that are kept in mind before the
selection of a PV module for grid-connected systems. So, selecting the right type of
PV, whether to use Mono-crystalline or Polycrystalline is essential. Mono-
crystalline considered the most efficient type of solar panels with an overall
efficiency of approximately 20% and a reasonable price. For this design,
commercial PV module of 300 Wp, total of 420 modules, are adopted. Inverters are
used here for converting Direct Current (DC) into Alternating Current (AC) and
suppressing the harmonics produced after the conversion. Therefore, 4 numbers
of 30kW inverters are used in the plant.
Figure 3 System Design (Solar Module, Inverter, Array Design)
The PV array and inverter characteristics are considered one of the most
important elements for selecting and designing the solar PV system, since they are
the backbone of the solar plant that receives the solar energy and starts generating
the electricity and thereby, determining the array global power, array operation
conditions, and Performance ratio of the plant.
2.3 Other Parameters to be adjusted for better efficiency
1)The PV module direction: A direction change in the PV module not
according to Azimuth, will reduce the current and lead to reduce the power
generation. Solar panels should face the south according to Noida’s location in the
Northern Hemisphere of Earth. With the help of solar tracker, we can move PV to
get the maximum radiation. The Solar trackers can be classified into two- single axis
and dual axis trackers, we can select the suitable tracker for our PV plant
considering the capital cost and the maximum efficiency that can be achieved using
the Trackers. But for
our project we are
installing the fixed
axis PV modules,
because the
average solar
irradiance is quite
enough for our
plant to generate
acceptable amount
of energy.
Figure 4 Different Parameters Available for Designing the PV plant
2) The PV module angle: The angle is another factor to adjust after installing the
PV module in the south direction. The solar angle of PV needs to face the sun, and
the most suitable angle changes according to location and seasons of the year. A
lower tilt angle is increasing in productivity of summer months. While in winter,
higher tilt angles are used for lower irradiance conditions. 32 degrees tilt angle has
been set for all the PV modules of our plant.
3)Detailed Losses: For calculating the right efficiency and output energy it is
advised to give the values to the software regarding different possible losses in the
plant-like ohmic loss, Module mismatch, LID and IAM losses. The loss factors for
them are set to default in the software. The PVSyst Software also has the data for
various loss factors depending on different site location.
3.0 Results Calculated Using PVSyst Software
Design and Estimation of the results of a 100kW solar power plant is done by
using PVsyst software version 7.2. The system is designed based on the above
specification to provide the required energy. The following Figure.5 shows the solar
path in Noida. Also, Figure.6 displays the system design of the solar module,
inverter, and array design.
Figure 5 Solar Paths in Noida
Figure 6 PV Array and Inverter Characteristics
Figure 2 PVSyst Schematic Diagram of PV Plant
PV grid-connected
system consists of PV array,
inverters, user (load), and grid
connection. A grid has no
storage component as the
generated energy is sold back
to the main grid. The proposed
model is illustrated as shown
in Figure 7. by the PVsyst
software. It clearly shows how
the system is connected and
how the user gets the power from the PV power plant.
3.1 Simulation and Results
The simulation results of a proposed photovoltaic system are analysed in this
section. The obtained results show from the simulation model of 100 kW MONO
CRYSTALLINE photovoltaic system displayed in PVsyst as per the project
specifications and constraints. In this simulation, mainly. Obtained results, mainly
include Energy injected into grid, specific production, and performance ratio, are
analysed for assessing the performance of the MONO CRYSTALLINE photovoltaic
system and work on the possible changes required to get a better output from our
plant.
Where;
GlobHor: Horizontal global irradiation.
DiffHor: Horizontal diffuse irradiation.
T_Amb: T ambient.
Glob Inc: Global incident in plane.
GlobEff: Effective Global, correspond for IAM and shadings.
EArray: Effective energy at the output of the array.
E_Grid: Energy injected into grid.
PR: Performance Ratio
The above table shows the monthly distribution of various parameters
including the Annual Energy produced, which is around 205 MWh, that is actually
injected into the power system grid. There is also Loss Diagram available in the
report for better understanding of the different losses occurring at different stages
like Optical Losses, Array losses, and System Losses.
3.2 Performance Ratio
The performance ratio is a quality factor that measures the quality of a PV plant.
It describes the relationship between the theoretical and actual energy outputs of
the PV plant. The PR shows the energy after deduction of energy consumption and
losses. Usually, the Performance ratio is around 80% due to the unavoidable losses
during operation. The more the
PR is close to 80 %, the more
the system will be effective and
efficient. The following Figure
shows the monthly
performance ratio (PR) of the
PV plant of 100 kW using mono
crystalline photovoltaic system.
The overall PR for our PV plant
is around 78.6 % for the whole
year, which is considered quite
good enough.
The following Figure Presents the
normalized production of PV power
plant. It gives the collection losses of
PV array, system losses, and
produced useful energy of inverter
output. It clearly shows the monthly
production and losses per kWh.
So, these are all the results
and data that we can get by
designing the pv plant using PVSyst
software. Now, lets discuss some of
the challenges we might face for
installing the PV Plant of this size.
4.0 Challenges in Installing the PV Plant
1) Availability of land: Noida is one of the most populated city with people
coming from different cultures and religions, especially in the recent times the
growth in the city infrastructure and local governance is well managed and many
residential plots are being made for the people living there. So it is difficult to
get a perfect location for our solar plant that is free from shades and good solar
hours per day.
2) Cost of the Plant: Even though the price of the solar modules has been
decreased exponentially to less than a dollar/watt, the solar plant of this large
size requires a huge upfront investment.
3) Connection to the Grid: A new transmission line have to be installed for
connecting our solar plant with grid, which again costs some money.
4) Problem of Diluteness and Intermittency of the Solar Energy Source: On a
clear, bright day, nearly 1 kW of sunlight reaches a neighbourhood of 1 square
metre on the world only the sun is directly overhead, and this will differ greatly
geographically. As solar cells can convert around 15-20% of the solar power that
reaches earth into electricity, the intermittency of sunlight hampers the
efficiency of solar energy generation. Furthermore, alongside the matter of
intermittency, the matter of diluteness of sunlight has always been, and can still
remain the Gordian knot for solar farmers.
5.0 Conclusion
Using PV SYST simulation software, the annual energy yield analysis for
100kW PV Solar power generation was performed for geographical site Noida in
Uttar Pradesh, which is located at the latitude of 28.533 N and longitude 77.39 E.
The performance ratio is close to 80% and the annual energy produced is 205MW.
This paper presents design modelling and simulation as well as technical potential
of a solar PV grid connected electricity generation plant of size capacity 100kW
monthly in Noida. The maximum energy injected into the grid is in the month of
March which is 20.44MWh, and the least energy is in the month of August
13.85MWh. The average performance ratio (PR) of the mono crystalline PV system
is operated at 78% in the simulated study for the planned location.
6.0 References
[1] Wikipedia
[2] Tyagi, V., Rahim, N., & Selvaraj, J. (2013). Progress in solar PV technology: Research and
achievement. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
[3] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/science/solar-irradiance.html
[4] Ashish Shrivastava, Kartick Chandra Jana, Sandeep Tripathi, Amit Agrawal(2019).
Feasibility Analysis of 100 kW Solar Plant for Chandigarh, India
