Abstract
Due to the observed increase of photovoltaic installations capacity in Poland, the research on the performance of different modules became an important issue from the practical and scientific point of view. This paper is intended to help system planners to choose photovoltaic modules and inverters taking into account the actual operating conditions. The study is devoted to the assessment of four different technologies of photovoltaic modules: polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and cadmium telluride (CdTe). The data was collected at a solar plant located at high latitude location, in the eastern part of Poland, during the fourth year of the plant operation. The influence of irradiance on the temperature and efficiency of modules was studied. The results show that the efficiency of the pc-Si and CIGS modules decreases with rising temperature; however, the efficiency of the a-Si and CdTe modules is more stable. The impact of changing external conditions on the inverter efficiency as well as array and system losses during various seasons of the year was shown. The inverter efficiency reaches up to 98% in summer and drops as low as 30% in winter. Small average array capture losses of 7.41 (kWh/kWp)/month (0.25 h/day) are observed for the CIGS and 10.4 (kWh/kWp)/month (0.35 h/day) for pc-Si modules. The a-Si and CdTe array losses are higher, up to 2.83 h/day for CdTe in summer. The results indicate high annual energy yields of the pc-Si and CIGS modules, 1130 kWh/kWp and 1140 kWh/kWp, respectively. This research provided new data on pc-Si and especially the performance of the thin film modules and losses in a photovoltaic installation under temperate climate.
Highlights
The energy supply in Poland is based on fossil fuels, mainly coal
The solar plant under investigation is located in the warm summer continental climate which is characterized by significant differences between the warm and cold parts of the year
Average annual degradation rate determined for copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) modules is below 0.5%
Summary
According to the current predictions, Poland will not manage to meet European Union requirement [1] to achieve 15% of RES (renewable energy sources) share in the gross final energy consumption and exceed 19% of electricity production from RES by 2020. Nowadays the dynamic growth of photovoltaic market is observed. Global horizontal solar irradiation in Poland is in the range of 950–1250 (kWh/m2 )/year, which is similar to that in Germany, the European leader in photovoltaics [2]. The development of photovoltaics is observed due to the decrease in the prices of PV modules and new legal regulations introduced in 2016 that offer two ways of supporting photovoltaics: net metering (for systems up to 40 kWp) and an auction mechanism for large-scale projects (over 40 kWp). According to the current trends, Poland may be in the fourth place in EU in terms of establishing new PV systems annually [3]
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