Performance evaluation and analysis of grid-tied large scale PV plant in Algeria

Abstract

The initiatives taken by Algeria to tap its renewable energy potential have been exceptional in recent years. Therefore, the Algerian government aims to ensure a large portion of electricity demand with clean and sustainable resources. In this sense, many projects and large-scale PV plants were installed in the southern regions. This work explores and evaluates the performance of one of the largest solar photovoltaic plants (23.92 MWp) located in the area of El Bayadh, Algeria. The PV plant performance is studied in a period of 36 months of operation from March 2017 to February 2020. In this regard, several evaluation parameters are applied such as performance ratio, yield factor, and capacity utilization factor. The results of this project indicate that the real data obtained from the PV plant output strongly coincide with the predicted one acquired from PVSyst and SolarGIS tools. Besides, the analysis indicates that the module temperature and performance ratio has a strong correlation coefficient (0.91). Moreover, the degradation of the PV plant performance ratio during the monitored period is quantified using a linear regression model, and it is estimated at 0.76%/year. Finally, the performance indices of the PV plant are found satisfactory in comparison with the large-scale PV systems situated at other locations in the world reported from published literature.