Evaluation of Solar radiation resources and modeling of flexible thin-film modules in Eastern Province – KSA

Abstract

This paper epitomizes the analysis of the solar resource measurements and a simulation of curved thin-film modules for photovoltaic applications. The analysis used 1 year (January 1, 2018 until December 31, 2018) of data from 7 stations distributed across the eastern province (KSA) based on measurements of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI), Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), and related meteorological parameters. The 7 stations show the results obtained for the annual average daily GHI over the study period shows a variation of almost 300 Wh/m2 among station, with mean daily total values in the eastern region 6755 Wh/m2. The results above indicate that photovoltaic would perform well at any location although extreme high temperatures in some locations may degrade the performance of some types of photovoltaic. Annual average daily DNI all above 5500 Wh/m2. The average daily total DHI over the study period among stations is 2840 Wh/m2. Second part of study uses two-step model, 1D and 3D model. The 1D describes the technology and outputs device (current density, temperature, illumination), 3D model uses this data as one of its inputs, and describes size, shape within the curved flexible module.