Abstract
Existing megawatt-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant producers must understand that simple and low-cost Operation and Maintenance (O&M) practices, even executed by their own personal and supported by a comparison of field data with simulated ones, play a key role in improving the energy outputs of the plant. Based on a currently operating 18 MW PV plant located in an under-developing South-Asia country, we show in this paper that comparing real field data collected with simulated results allows a central vision concerning plant underperformance and valuable indications about the most important predictive maintenances actions for the plant in analysis. Simulations using the globally recognized software PVSyst were first performed to attest to the overall power plant performance. Then, its energy output was predicted using existing ground weather data located at the power plant. Compared with the actual plant’s annual energy output, it was found that it was underperforming by −4.13%, leading to a potential monetary loss of almost 175,000 (EUR)/year. Besides, an analysis of the O&M power plant reports was performed and compared to the best global practices. It was assessed that the tracker systems’ major issues are the forerunner of the most significant PV power plant underperformance. In addition, issues in inverters and combiner boxes were also reported, leading to internal shutdowns. In this case, predictive maintenance and automated plant diagnosis with a bottom-up approach using low-cost data acquisition and processing systems, starting from the strings level, were recommended.
Highlights
Renewable energy deployment has been on the rise since the last decade
Their need is for simple and low-cost methodologies that are enough to increase their energy production, adapted to the plant’s particular environmental conditions. It is in this context that the title question appears: why can simple operation and maintenance (O&M) practices in large-scale grid-connected PV power plants play a key role in improving its energy output?
Performance analysis of an 18 MW single-axis tracking solar PV power plant has been conducted based on comparing its actual energy output with an expected energy output obtained through simulation using specialized software
Summary
Renewable energy deployment has been on the rise since the last decade. Statistics from International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published in the Renewable Capacity Statistics report 2019 [1] provide an insight into an increase in the installed renewable power generation in GW over the last ten years. The parameters are array yield, final yield, reference yield, performance ratio, capacity factor, module, inverter, system efficiency, and total energy generation These indicators provide a foundation on which solar PV systems can be compared, operating under different conditions [8,9]. MW scale PV plant, but few studies about operation and maintenance for GW PV power plants are located in under-developing countries Their need is for simple and low-cost methodologies that are enough to increase their energy production, adapted to the plant’s particular environmental conditions. It is in this context that the title question appears: why can simple operation and maintenance (O&M) practices in large-scale grid-connected PV power plants play a key role in improving its energy output?
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