Experimental and simulation-based energy performance analysis of a 1,17 MWp photovoltaic power plant

In this study, an energy performance evaluation of the 1,171.8 kWp Bigadiç Solar Power Plant (SPP) located in Bigadiç district of Balıkesir province has been carried out based on real field data. In the evaluation, the parameters described in IEC 61724 Photovoltaic System Performance Standard were used. These parameters include energy output, array efficiency, final efficiency, reference efficiency, photovoltaic (PV) module efficiency, inverter efficiency, system efficiency, energy loss from array capture loss and system loss, performance ratio and capacity factor. In order to verify the experimental study, a model of the plant was created on PVsyst (Photovoltaic Systems Software) by using the existing PV plant information. Thanks to this model, the effects of various PV panel orientation and solar tracking applications on the power plant performance parameters in the power plant consisting of stationary and fixed tilt PV panels were examined. At the end of the study, it was observed that many parameters obtained as a result of PVsyst simulation were in great agreement with the experimental results. It has been revealed that the monthly and annual actual electricity generation values on the DC and AC side of the power plant and the monthly and annual average capacity factor values of the power plant are very similar to the values obtained as a result of PVsyst simulation. It was found that the simulation predicted the annual DC electricity generation with an error of %2.8 and AC electricity generation with an error of %2.3. As a result of the variant studies performed in the PVsyst programme for the power plant, it was observed that different panel orientations instead of the existing stationary and fixed inclined PV panels would significantly increase the in-plane radiation values falling on the panels. The simulation revealed that with this increase, the annual electricity production of the power plant will also increase significantly. Accordingly, it is seen that the PV panel system that can follow the sun on double axis instead of the existing fixed tilt immobile PV panel system can increase the annual electricity production value by %36.