PV system data analysis of a PV-powered racing boat during the Frisian Solar Challenge 2010

Abstract

In our analysis of our PV-powered racing boat ‘Scylla’ we monitored the PV system during 8 racing legs of the Frisian Solar Challenge 2010. We monitored various data with a 5 second interval such as motor loads, PV power and battery state of charge. Our PV boat showed to have a performance ratio of at least 0.702. We expect this value to be higher since we compared our short time interval monitoring data with hourly irradiance values. This leads to errors since our PV-powered racing boat's PV system does not operate when the battery is fully charged. We did a simulation of various configurations of PV modules and battery capacity. This shows for a specific scenario that a 3.2kWh battery capacity would be sufficient to meet the motor load while not having any PV modules on board. This scenario shows low impact on the weight of the boat, but high impact on the cost of the battery pack: €8000. A large quantity of PV modules reduces generally the PV system's price, but shows high impact on the total PV boat's weight: an additional 150kg over 80kg. Battery pack and PV module cost is then reduced to €4000.