Expanding the number of photovoltaic (PV) systems integrated into a grid raises many concerns regarding protection, system safety, and power quality. In order to monitor the effects of the current harmonics generated by PV systems, this paper presents long-term current harmonic distortion prediction models. The proposed models use a multilayer perceptron neural network, a type of artificial neural network (ANN), with input parameters that are easy to measure in order to predict current harmonics. The models were trained with one-year worth of measurements of power quality at the point of common coupling of the PV system with the distribution network and the meteorological parameters measured at the test site. A total of six different models were developed, tested, and validated regarding a number of hidden layers and input parameters. The results show that the model with three input parameters and two hidden layers generates the best prediction performance.

Infrared thermography, in the analysis of photovoltaic (PV) power plants, is a mature technical discipline. In the event of a hailstorm that leaves the PV system without the support of the power grid (and a significant portion of the generation potential), thermography is the easiest way to determine the condition of the modules and revive the existing system with the available resources. This paper presents research conducted on a 30 kW part of a 420 kW PV power plant, and demonstrates the procedure for inspecting visually correct modules that have suffered from a major natural disaster. The severity of the disaster is shown by the fact that only 14% of the PV modules at the test site remained intact. Following the recommendations of the standard IEC TS 62446-3, a thermographic analysis was performed. The thermographic analysis was preceded by an analysis of the I-V curve, which was presented in detail using two characteristic modules as examples. I-V curve measurements are necessary to relate the measured values of the radiation and the measured contact temperature of the module to the thermal patterns. The analysis concluded that soiled modules must be cleaned, regardless of the degree of soiling. The test results clearly indicated defective module elements that would result in a safety violation if reused. The research shows that the validity criterion defined on the basis of the analysis of the reference module can be supplemented, but can also be replaced by a statistical analysis of several modules. The comparison between the thermographic analysis and the visual inspection clearly confirmed thermography as a complementary method for testing PV-s.

This paper gives a comprehensive approach to the emulation of photovoltaic (PV) plants made of different module technologies as well as varying peak power through the advanced fast PV power emulation technique. Even though PVs are recognized as a technology for CO2 emissions mitigation, the proposed emulation technique provides the opportunity to replicate PV plant operation without a carbon footprint because of its working principle. The process of PV power plant emulation consists of several stages which are described in detail. An algorithm for determining PV power plant configuration based on the technical characteristics of the PV emulation system equipment is developed and presented, as well as an algorithm for preparing data on the current–voltage (i–v) characteristics used as input data into programmable sources that mimic the power plant PV array. A case study of a single day operation of PV power plants made of two different topologies and technologies was carried out with the fast PV power emulation approach and the results are evaluated and presented.

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The aim of SEEP2017 is to bring together the researches within the field of sustainable energy and environmental protection from all over the world.The contributed papers are grouped in 18 sessions in order to provide access to readers out of 300 contributions prepared by authors from 52 countries.We thank the distinguished plenary and keynote speakers and chairs who have kindly consented to participate at this conference. We are also grateful to all the authors for their papers and to all committee members.We believe that scientific results and professional debates shall not only be an incentive for development, but also for making new friendships and possible future scientific development projects. Increasing efforts and resources have been devoted to research during environmental studies, including the assessment of various harmful impacts from industrial, civic, business, transportation and other economy activities. Environmental impacts are usually quantified through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In recent years, footprints have emerged as efficient and useful indicators to use within LCA. The footprint assessment techniques has provided a set of tools enabling the evaluation of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) -including CO2, emissions and the corresponding effective flows on the world scale. From all such indicators, the energy footprint represents the area of forest that would be required to absorb the GHG emissions resulting from the energy consumption required for a certain activity, excluding the proportion absorbed by the oceans, and the area occupied by hydroelectric dams and reservoirs for hydropower.An overview of the virtual GHG flow trends in the international trade, associating the GHG and water footprints with the consumption of goods and services is performed. Several important indications have been obtained: (a) There are significant GHG gaps between producer's and consumer's emissions -US and EU have high absolute net imports GHG budget. (b) China is an exporting country and increasingly carries a load of GHG emission and virtual water export associated with consumption in the relevant importing countries. (c) International trade can reduce global environmental pressure by redirecting import to products produced with lower intensity of GHG emissions and lower water footprints, or producing them domestically.To develop self-sufficient regions based on more efficient processes by combining neighbouring countries can be a promising development. A future direction should be focused on two main areas: (1) To provide the self-sufficient regions based on more efficient processes by combining production of surrounding countries. (2) To develop the shared mechanism and market share of virtual carbon between trading partners regionally and internationally. HAKAN SERHAD SOYHAN 4 Development in energy sector, technological advancements, production and consumption amounts in the countries and environmental awareness give shape to industry of energy. When the dependency is taken into account in terms of natural...

Performance of 5 photovoltaic (PV) modules made of different technologies (monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, copper indium selenide and heterojunction with intrinsic layer) is evaluated according to the short-term capacity evaluation method described in IEC TS 61724-2 standard. Measurements for the analysis are obtained from the data acquisition system developed by the Laboratory for Renewable Energy Sources at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology (FERIT) Osijek which is described in the paper. Results of the performance analysis according to the IEC TS 61724-2 standard indicate that the copper indium selenide PV module Solar Frontier SF150-S has the greatest performance, therefore it is the most suitable PV module for the micro-location of Osijek, Croatia with European humid continental climate. The lowest performance of all studied PV modules is achieved by polycrystalline silicon PV module Bisol BMU 250. Empirical analysis of the relations of various electrical and meteorological parameters is performed and dependencies are evaluated. In the last section, mathematical models of PV module efficiency in relation to the module temperature are derived based on empirical analysis of measurements.

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