Operational performance of on-grid solar photovoltaic system integrated into pre-fabricated portable cabin buildings in warm and temperate climates

Abstract

Depreciating costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity, increasing government support and initiatives, and rising prices of grid electricity have spurred the production of electricity through solar PV systems. The Chandigarh government in India has installed a 200 kWp on-grid PV system on the roofs of pre-fabricated portable cabins (PPC) to fulfil their local energy demand at the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) complex. In this paper, the operational performance of this system in warm and temperate climates is characterized based on on-field recorded data. Results for annual reference yield are 5.21 kWh/kWp/day, the array yield is 4.15 kWh/kWp/day, and the system-wide final yield is noted as 3.70 kWh/kWp/day. The annual array efficiency, the inverter efficiency, and the system efficiency were recorded at 12.24%, 89.27%, and 10.93%, respectively. The performance ratio is 71.30%, and the capacity utilization factor is 15.21%. We also noted the capture losses for the plant to be at 20.12%, out of which thermal capture losses was 6.97%. Based on this empirical assessment, the annual electricity produced by the system was 2,66,460.0 kWh. Based on the electricity production from this plant, we estimate that PPC building based PV systems may have the potential to mitigate the CO2 emissions for the base year by 421.1 tCO2eq. in comparison with present-day conventional thermal power plants in India.