Performance analysis and evaluation of 10 kWp solar photovoltaic array for remote islands of Andaman and Nicobar

Abstract

The Andaman and Nicobar island, an union territory of India, is a group of islands located in the Indian Ocean where 93.63% of total power is generated by the diesel generators for which solar photovoltaic (PV) generation system is a viable alternative to meet the load demand of the islands. The proposed paper presents the solar PV resource assessment, performance analysis, and evaluation of normalized performance indices obtained from 10 kWp solar PV array considered at the climatic conditions of five islands of Andaman and Nicobar, mainly Smith, Middle Andaman, Baratang, Car Nicobar and Katchal. The yearly mean normalized performance indices like array yield (Yarr), reference yield (Yref), final yield (Yfin), performance ratio (PR), array capture loss (Lcap), system loss (Lsys) and capacity factor (CF) have been evaluated. The variation of ambient temperature (Tamb) and cell temperature (Tcell) have also been presented. The obtained results show yearly mean capacity factor and performance ratio are in the range of (13.73–14.61)% and (64.70–64.93)%, respectively. The yearly mean array yield, reference yield, final yield, array capture loss and system loss are (3.66–3.90) h/d, (5.08–5.43) h/d, (3.30–3.51) h/d, (1.42–1.53) h/d and (0.37–0.39) h/d, respectively.