A Simple Photovoltaic Panel Model: Characterization Procedure and Evaluation of the Role of Environmental Measurements

Abstract

The growing number of installed photovoltaic (PV) plants is making the simulation of their behavior and their effects on the power network more and more relevant. In this context, an accurate yet simple model of the panels is beneficial for evaluating the power production as well as the system efficiency in off-line and on-line analysis. In the preliminary design stages of large plants, this kind of model can support design and decision making, allowing for the simulation of the entire plant and the testing of various power architectures. During the operation, such models may support monitoring, diagnostic, and control functions. In this paper, a model of PV panel, suitable for the aforementioned applications, is presented together with a simple procedure for the identification of its parameters. The critical issues related to the measurement and the estimation of the required environmental quantities are analyzed together with their main metrological requirements. Finally, the experimental validation of the proposed model and algorithms is presented using as a case study the estimation of the energy production of a domestic solar plant

Statistical models approach for solar radiation prediction

“…On the other end, the main weakness of this renewable energy source is that its availability cannot be fully controlled. Many aspects need to be considered such as geographic position, local climate, weather and global efficiency of the panel [2], [3], [4]. Among these, the position and the climate influence on the solar radiation can be easily obtained from astronomical and statistical data, but the weather is characterized by a high variability and depends on many physical factors.…”

Sequential Optimization for PV Panel Parameter Estimation

“…Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2016.2574128 which offers a good tradeoff between accuracy and computational simplicity [17]. PV model parameters can be estimated using two main approaches: datasheet-based and measurement-based.…”

“…The parameter values obtained from the explicit methods can be used as an initial solution, followed by further calculation for higher accuracy [21]. For computational ease, some methods ignore shunt resistance [7], [8], [14], [17], [23]- [25] and series resistance R s [7], [14], [24], while some methods fix the diode quality factor [15], [26], [27]. This leads to an error in the prediction of the maximum power point (MPP) [11].…”

“…The second major approach of modeling a PV array is based on actual measurements [9], [15]- [17], [25], [27]. Here, an error function is defined as the difference between the actual measured output and the predicted output of the parameterized PV model equation.…”

Comparative Analysis of Different Single-Diode PV Modeling Methods

“…They also assume that the values of resistances at conditions other than STC remain unchanged such that the only parameters which are calculated are the photocurrent and the saturation current. These parameters are dependent on the temperature and irradiance [28], and as such, there are a few different ways in which they are represented.…”