Potential and performance estimation of free-standing and building integrated photovoltaic technologies for different climatic zones of India

Abstract

• Photovoltaic technology integrated/attached economic weaker section houses. • Performance and potential of different grid connected Photovoltaic technologies. • Locations under six different climatic zones are studied. • Performance ratio, Capacity factor and system overall losses evaluated. • A new performance parameter Energy Deviation is introduced. The role of Photovoltaic technologies integrated or attached to the building envelope is crucial in managing the building energy demand. In this paper, the performance of PV technologies with the mounting methods of Building integrated and Free-standing (Building attached) is discussed for six different climate zone of the country. A PVGIS program proposed with three PV cell technologies (Crystalline Silicon, Copper indium diselenide, Cadmium Telluride) is used to evaluate monthly energy generation potential and losses of the 2 kW p grid-connected PV system at the latitude and 90°. A 2 kW p PV system is chosen for Economic Weaker Section (EWS) housing schemes depending upon the roof area. From the evaluation, the performance parameter has been estimated. A new parameter Energy Deviation (ED), is proposed to choose the best PV technology in terms of performance. The results of ED agree with the parameters Performance Ratio (PR) and Capacity Factor (CF) defined under the IEC Standard 61724. The potential generation of PV technologies at 90° varies from 41% (Warm and Humid) to 64% (Cold and Sunny) when compared with the latitude. In case of Cold and Sunny and Cold and Cloudy at 90°, the generation performance of Copper indium diselenide is found better in Building integrated and Free-standing mounting methods, respectively. For the remaining zones, Cadmium Telluride technology shows better results. The Percentage loss in the system is found to be minimum in the case of Cold and Sunny, varies between 17% and 25%, and maximum is found for Warm and Humid and varies between 23.2% and 33.4% for the proposed PV technologies. The grid feed-in energy from these EWS houses for all the technologies and climatic zones is found above 45%. It is seen that the combined energy generation from the envelopes (Roof, walls, and facades) makes the houses energy plus in nature. The study has important implications for the government to promote the building integrated Photovoltaic policies in the country.