Analysis and feasibility of 50 kWp self-consumption solar photovoltaic system for four Senegalese typical climatic zones using PVsyst software

Abstract

This study investigates analysis and feasibility of 50 kWp self-consumption photovoltaic system used for supplying the electrical load of military bases in Senegal. It refers to a simulation of performance photovoltaic system in four Senegalese typical climatic zones. In constructing the 50 kWp self-consumption photovoltaic simulation, the number of modules is 144, the power of each module is 280 Wp, 18 modules are in series and 8 in strings. Also, two solar SMA technology of 20 kWp with a voltage range of 230 to 800 V are used, and the simulation is done by means of Pvsyst software 6.81. Solar and ambient temperature data sets from Helioclim-3 database corrected by observations are used for this performance study. The variability of performance system in the four climate typical zones are analyzed from the simulations results. This work includes evaluation of the effective energy produced by the photovoltaic system, consumption and other components related to PV production for each climatic region. The 50 kWp PV array of electricity produced at Dakar (69.8 MWh/year), St Louis (64.9 MWh/year), Tambacounda (62.7 MWh/year) and Ziguinchor (59.3 MWh/year) is entirely self-consumed. The annual performance ratio are 0.796 at Dakar, 0.795 at St Louis, 0.775 at Tambacounda and 0.792 at Ziguinchor. The results obtained follow the variability of the solar resource. This variability is often impacted by the effect of temperature and other local climatic conditions such as the number of aerosols and the diversity of seasons. The solar radiation is more important at St Louis than at Dakar but the Dakar region is less impacted by these factors, making the results more important at Dakar. As for the Tambacounda and Ziguinchor regions, the solar resource is less important, likely due to effect of elevated PV panel temperatures and a longer rainy season in these two zones. To know the magnitude of a solar photovoltaic installation, it is good to size for each locality to be able to deduce a larger production. Key words: Self-consumption, Pvsyst software, climatic zones, Helioclim-3, performance ratio.