Solar power plant site determination and Kütahya example

Energy efficiency and clean energy are among the most important issues of today. The limited reserves of fossil fuels make the use of renewable energy sources more attractive. The rate of utilization of renewable energy sources is increasing in the world and in Turkey. With the increase in electrical energy production from renewable energy sources, environmental pollution decreases due to emissions caused by fossil fuels, and foreign dependence in terms of energy decreases for Turkey. Electricity can be obtained from solar energy, which is one of the renewable energy sources, with photovoltaic panels. In this thesis, regions suitable for photovoltaic solar power plant installation within the provincial borders of Kütahya were investigated and the solar energy potential of the region was obtained. While determining the fields, the Analytical Hierarchy Process was used as a method. The criteria and sub-criteria that are important in the installation of photovoltaic solar power plant were evaluated and their weights were determined. After determining the areas suitable for photovoltaic solar power plant installation within the provincial borders of Kütahya, the photovoltaic solar energy potential of the region was calculated. Calculations are applied according to different photovoltaic panel technologies. The annual electrical energy production potential of the areas determined as suitable for photovoltaic power plant installation is calculated as; 984 billion kWh/year for c-Si panel technology, 593 billion kWh/year for a-Si panel technology, 661 billion kWh/year for CdTe panel technology, 631 billion kWh/year for CIGS panel technology and 1975 billion kWh/year for CPV panel technology. Photovoltaic panel slopes are an important criterion for obtaining maximum efficiency from photovoltaic panels. In this context, the optimum panel slope angle values of the districts of Kütahya were calculated on a monthly and seasonal basis. The instantaneous efficiency of photovoltaic panels is related to the cell temperature of the panels. In the current studies in the literature, there are empirical expressions that give the photovoltaic panel cell temperature, but the results obtained from these expressions do not overlap with each other. In order to obtain the instantaneous efficiencies of photovoltaic panels and, accordingly, the theoretical production values, a global expression that gives the photovoltaic panel cell temperature is needed. In this thesis, a global expression was developed that gives the photovoltaic panel cell temperature depending on the ambient temperature, solar radiation and wind speed. With the created statement, performance estimations and feasibility studies of photovoltaic facilities that are installed or planned to be established will be able to be carried out. Parallel to these, expressions giving ambient temperature, solar radiation and wind speed were created by using the meteorological data of Kütahya for many years.