Energy Yield Of Photovoltaic Systems Research Articles

Enhanced MPPT approach for grid-integrated solar PV system: Simulation and experimental study

The global solar energy utilization has significantly risen, mostly due to the technological, economic, and environmental advantages it offers, particularly through the implementation of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The energy output of PV systems is contingent upon climate conditions. A new hybrid two-stage maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system developed to optimize power extraction and increase efficiency in PV systems. The system consists of two stages: a perturb and observe (P&O) MPPT for regulating the reference voltage in the first stage, and an enhanced model reference adaptive controller (EMRAC) for adjusting the DC-DC converter duty cycle in second stage. This system is designed primarily for 100.7 kW three-phase grid-integrated PV systems operating in environments with rapidly changing solar irradiation and temperature levels. In order to demonstrate efficacy of the suggested approach, a probabilistic evaluation is conducted across three levels of uncertain scenarios, namely ropp, step irradiance profile, and rapid changing irradiation and temperature profile. The proposed approach attained maximum power point (MPP) in 0.11 s and had an average tracking efficiency of 98.28 %. Quantitative, statistical, comparative and experimental analyses utilizing the dSPACE 1202 reveal the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy and demonstrate the superior performance over P&O, INC and ANN based on the power output, response time, power loss, efficiency, and error rates.

Assessment of the solar energy potential of rooftops using LiDAR datasets and GIS based approach

The importance of solar energy as a global energy source is expected to grow. Solar power's future looks bright, especially with an aged and deteriorating energy grid and rising fossil fuel prices. More precise methods for assessment of solar capacity are needed as more homes and companies investigate the possibility of small-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar installations. In this study, a spatial solar energy PV potential assessment method based on the combination of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) datasets and GIS (Geographic Information System) is proposed. The proposed methodology is applied to an area in the capital city of Skopje in N. Macedonia, from where the results of the possible annual energy output of PV systems for the selected rooftops were presented. The results of the study were presented in a map showing rooftops that are most suitable for installing PV systems. From this map, three random roofs were selected to perform manual estimates of the number of panels that could fit on them and the potential energy output of the solar PV systems. This study provides crucial results for financial and urban planning, policy formulation for future energy projects and also allows to analyze different mechanisms to promote PV installations on publicly available rooftops.

Comparison of Energy Production Between Fixed-Mount and Tracking Systems of Solar PV Systems in Jakarta, Indonesia

Most of the electrical energy demand is consumed by urban activities. One of the renewable sources that can be used by urban communities is solar energy through photovoltaic (PV) systems. The amount of energy produced by a PV system is directly affected by the level of irradiation received by PV modules. Conventional PV systems are commonly installed with a fixed-mount system where the angle of incidence of radiation on solar modules changes over time. Solar irradiation would be optimum received by solar modules if the angle of incidence is kept at zero degrees, i.e., radiation is perpendicular to the surface of the modules. This condition can be achieved by employing a solar tracker system for solar modules. This paper studies the comparison of the energy output of PV systems between fixed-mount and without solar tracking in the urban area of Jakarta, Indonesia. The studies are carried out using Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) online simulation tools. The objective of the study is to compare and figure out the specific energy output between the optimized fixed-mount installation (without a tracking system) with solar tracking. In general, the results showed that the specific energy output PV system of a fixed-mount PV system in Jakarta is about 1379 kWh/kWp per year, while for the system with a solar tracking system, the specific energy production is about 1672 kWh/kWp. The information found is expected to be a useful reference for the development and promotion of solar energy, particularly in Indonesia.

Artificial intelligent controller-based energy management system for grid integration of PV and energy storage devices

In the modern world, photovoltaic (PV) energy generation is becoming more prevalent and cost-effective. To address climate change, many countries have prioritised photovoltaics and made significant investments in energy generation. Because of its non-linear nature, solar energy generation is extremely difficult. This is completely dependent on the solar radiation and the outside temperature. The maximum power generation of a PV system in non-linear weather circumstances and the grid integration of PV with power management are discussed in this article. Artificial intelligence (AI) is vital for improving the energy output of PV systems across a wide range of environmental conditions because traditional controllers do not aid a solar system in producing the maximum energy. The grid integration of PV and EMS (energy management systems) was covered in the later part of this article. In this paper, artificial intelligence is used to provide customers with continuous power through a battery system, which plays a critical role in energy management. Furthermore, the suggested model was simulated in Matlab and its performance was evaluated under various operational scenarios. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system, the results are compared to IEEE 519.

Thermal model to quantify the impact of sub-bandgap reflectance on operating temperature of fielded PV modules

Minimizing module heating is an effective way to increase the lifetime energy output of photovoltaic systems. Maximizing the reflection of light that is unusable for energy conversion is one of the most promising ways to reduce the operating temperature of fielded modules. We derive a model based on a steady-state energy balance to quantify the temperature benefit of cell or module optical modifications aimed at improving reflection of light with photon energies below the photovoltaic cell bandgap energy. This more detailed model is then simplified so that, from outdoor measured data, temperature differences arising from reflectance can be isolated from those arising from irradiance, wind speed, and module standard-test-condition efficiency.

A Forensic-Based Investigation Algorithm for Parameter Extraction of Solar Cell Models

The accurate parameter extraction of photovoltaic (PV) module is pivotal for determining and optimizing the energy output of PV systems into electric power networks. Consequently, a Photovoltaic Single-Diode Model (PVSDM), Double Diode Model (PVDDM), and Triple- Diode Model (PVTDM) is demonstrated to consider the PV losses. This article introduces a new application of the Forensic-Based Investigation Algorithm (FBIA), which is a new meta-heuristic optimization technique, to accurately extract the electrical parameters of different PV models. The FBIA is inspired by the suspect investigation, location, and pursuit processes that are used by police officers. The FBIA has two phases, which are the investigation phase applying by the investigators team, and the pursuit phase employing by the police agents team. The validity of the FBIA for PVSDM, PVDDM, and PVTDM is commonly considered by the numerical analysis executing under diverse values of solar irradiations and temperatures. The optimal five, seven, and nine parameters of PVSDM, PVDDM, and PVTDM, respectively, are accomplished using the FBIA and compared with those manifested by various optimization techniques. The numerical results are compared for the marketable Photowatt-PWP 201 polycrystalline and Kyocera KC200GT modules. The efficacy of the FBIA for the three models is properly carried out checking its standard deviation error with that obtained from various recently proposed optimization techniques in 2020 which are Jellyfish search (JFS) optimizer, Manta Ray Foraging optimizer (MRFO), Marine Predators Algorithm(MPA), Equilibrium Optimizer (EO), Heap Based Optimizer (HBO). The standard deviations of the fitness values over 30 runs are developed to be less than $1 \times 10^{-6}$ for the three models, which make the FBIA results are extremely consistent. Therefore, FBIA is foreseen to be a competitive technique for PV module parameter extraction.

Effects of thermophoresis on dust accumulation on solar panels

The dust accumulation on a solar panel may be one of the most serious losses in the energy yield of photovoltaic systems, especially in the desert environment. The transport of airborne dust particles onto solar panels is governed by various physical processes and described by particle dynamics in a fluid. Here we investigate how the temperature gradient between the solar panel and the ambient air affects the dust accumulation. This so-called thermophoresis, which drives particles moving from the hot solar panel to the cold air, is examined using the boundary layer approximation for non-isothermal laminar airflow along the solar panel. We find that a strong thermophoretic force is built up at the entry region of the solar panel. With the velocity and temperature profiles of non-isothermal laminar airflow, we simulate Lagrangian particle trajectories. We demonstrate that for submicrometer-size particles, the thermophoresis builds a region free of the dust accumulation on the solar panel. It is shown that the thermophoretic effect may decrease the accumulation of submicrometer-size particles on the solar panel whose temperature is a few tens of degrees higher than the ambient air in the daytime.

Temperature Analysis of the Stand-Alone and Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems Based on Simulation and Measurement Data

Sunlight is converted into electrical energy due to the photovoltaic effect in photovoltaic cells. Energy yield of photovoltaic systems depends on the solar array location, orientation, tilt, tracking and local weather conditions. In order to determine the amount of energy produced in a photovoltaic system, it is important to analyze the operation of the photovoltaic (PV) arrays in real operating conditions and take into account the impact of external factors such as irradiance, ambient temperature or the speed of blowing wind, which is the natural coolant of PV panels. The analysis was carried out based on mathematical models and actual measurement data, regarding the dependence of the average temperature of PV arrays on variable and difficult to predict ambient conditions. The analysis used standard (nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT)), King, Skoplaki, Faiman and Mattei thermal models and the standard model for flat-plate photovoltaic arrays. Photovoltaic installations PV1, PV2a and PV2b, being part of the hybrid power plant of the Bialystok University of Technology, Poland, were the objects of the research. In the case of a free-standing solar system, the Skoplaki model proved to be the best method for determining the average temperatures of the PV arrays. For building-integrated PV systems, a corrected value of the mounting coefficient in the Skoplaki model was proposed, and the original results were compared. The comparison of the accuracy measures of the average operating temperatures for three micro-power plants, differently mounted and located, is presented.

New approach to evaluating predictive models of photovoltaic systems

Performance models are used for forecasting the energy output of photovoltaic systems. The ability of a model to accurately predict the output must be carefully assessed because the capital cost for photovoltaic system implementation is tied to the reliability of the forecast. The customary approach to model evaluation is based on the root-mean-square-error, mean-absolute-error and mean-bias-error. The values of these statistics strongly depend on the scale of the quantities they compare and, therefore, can be misleading.This paper presents a multifaceted approach to model evaluation, comprising qualitative and quantitative assessment, thus increasing the reliability of the evaluation outcome. The qualitative assessment is based on graphical residual analysis. The quantitative assessment is based on two new, scale independent, metrics. The results show good agreement between the outcomes of the qualitative and the quantitative assessment, when it is done with the new metrics, but a discrepancy between the two, when the traditional metrics are used. The new metrics can be used to assess the forecasting accuracy of different performance models of the same photovoltaic system as well as to compare the accuracy of models of different systems. The new approach is applied in the evaluation of models of two photovoltaic systems and the results are compared with the results that would have been obtained, had the customary metrics been used.

Performance Analysis of Photovoltaic Module by Dust Deposition in Western Rajasthan

Background: Dust soiling is a main contributing environmental issue with the climatic condition of Western Rajasthan that influences adversely the performance of solar PV technology. The deposition of dust particles reduces the solar output by hampering the solar radiation. Objectives: To explore the trend of dust soiling rate over different seasons in a year and its impact on the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Western Rajasthan in India. Especially, dust particle settlement is primarily affecting the optical properties of the PV modules, which results in declining their output electrical energy yield. Thus, it adds significantly to quantify the effect of soiling by measuring transmittance losses and soiling ratio with different dust particles. Methods: This article presents a significant loss in output energy yield of photovoltaic system with the layer by layer deposition of the different dust particles in Western Rajasthan. In the context of physical properties, the XRD and SEMEDS analysis of the collected dust sample from SOTA is carried out, and also the dust particle size study has been performed in order to observe the sediment characteristics of various dust samples in Western Rajasthan. The preliminary results depict the optical (glass transmittance) and electrical (soiling ratio) parameters strongly depend on the dust properties and its deposition density. Findings: With this consideration, the highest power loss is observed in the Bikaner dust sample (S1) due to its high transmittance loss (96.1%) and whiles the minimum for Barmer (78.4%). Applications: This study can be useful to guide the appropriate level of dust soiling mitigation on solar PV systems in an arid or particular region. It can also be decided on the optimal cleaning schedule in actual conditions in the year. Keywords: Dust Soiling, Desert, PV Module, Air Pollution, Solar Energy, Transmittance, Soiling Ratio.

Multiconcept Methods to Enhance Photovoltaic System Efficiency

The main goal of this paper is to review the most important methods previously developed to enhance the efficiency and increase the lifetime of photovoltaic panels. The methods to increase the solar radiation incident on photovoltaic panels, as well as the cooling and the maximum power point tracker methods, are concisely presented in this paper. The pros and cons analysis reveals that the methods to enhance the power generated by the photovoltaic panels are strongly dependent on geographical location, climatic conditions, and the materials used. This review paper is also of interest for engineers who attempt to identify the most adequate solutions to maximize the energy output of photovoltaic systems for each location.

Significant decrease of photovoltaic power production by aerosols. The case of Santiago de Chile

Santiago de Chile frequently suffers from atmospheric pollution that contributes to the decrease of solar irradiance on the surface, leading to losses in the energy output of photovoltaic systems. In this study, a simple model is used to estimate the effect of aerosols on the solar irradiance over the city throughout the year, using as input AERONET sunphotometer data and other in-situ measurements. The results show reductions of 3.5% and 14.1% for global horizontal and direct normal irradiance respectively and an increase of 35.4% for diffuse horizontal irradiance between the actual condition in Santiago and a hypothetical atmosphere free of aerosols. These effects translate approximately to an annual difference in the energy output of −7.2% and −8.7% for monocrystalline and amorphous silicon PV technologies respectively, and an annual difference of −16.4% for a CPV technology, showing that aerosols can have a significant effect on the photovoltaic energy production.

Back‐contacted bottom cells with three terminals: Maximizing power extraction from current‐mismatched tandem cells

AbstractMulti‐junction cells can significantly improve the energy yield of photovoltaic systems over a single‐junction cell. The internal interconnection scheme of the subcells is an important aspect in determining the resulting levelized cost of electricity. For a dual‐junction cell, two approaches are commonly discussed: series‐connected tandem cells with two terminals or independently working subcells in a four‐terminal (4T) tandem device.In this paper, we explore the working principle and the operation modes of a third, rarely discussed option: a three‐terminal (3T) tandem cell using a back‐contacted bottom cell with 3Ts. We use current–voltage measurements of illuminated 3T interdigitated back contact cells and confirm that the front and rear base contacts are at similar quasi‐Fermi level positions, which enables the bottom cell to either efficiently collect surplus carriers, in the case of a current‐limiting or carrier injecting top cell, or inject majority carriers, in the case of a current‐limiting bottom cell. As a result, no current matching is needed. The power output of an idealized 3T bottom cell without resistive effects is independent of the current density applied from the top cell. These characteristics of the 3T bottom cells enable a 3T tandem to operate as efficiently as a 4T tandem, while being compatible with monolithic design and not requiring intermediate grids.We propose a simple equivalent circuit model including additional resistive effects, which describes a real 3T bottom cell and achieves excellent agreement to the experiment. We deduce design guidelines for a 3T bottom cell in different operation regimes.

A simplified skyline-based method for estimating the annual solar energy potential in urban environments

Architects, engineers and urban planners have today at their disposal several tools for simulating the energy yield of photovoltaic systems. These tools are based on mathematical models that perform repetitive calculations to determine the annual irradiation received by solar panels; hence when photovoltaic systems are installed in complex urban environments, the simulations become highly computationally demanding. Here we present a simplified and yet accurate model for the direct calculation of the annual irradiation and energy yield of photovoltaic systems in urban environments. Our model is based on the correlation between the solar radiation components and the shape of the skyline profile. We show how calculations can be simplified by quantifying the skyline using two indicators: the sky view factor and the sun coverage factor. Model performance is evaluated in different climates using measured data from different photovoltaic systems. Results indicate that the proposed model significantly reduces the required computation time while preserving a high estimation accuracy.

Energy, economical and ecological analysis of a single-family house using photovoltaic installation

According to European Union politics, Poland is expected to achieve at least 15% of the final energy consumption from renewable sources and to reduce 20% of greenhouse gases reduction in comparison to 1990. Among a variety of sources, (i.e. wind, biomass, geothermal, solar) energy conversion is one of the most promising solutions. The solar energy is clean and free. PV installations do not produce CO2gas to the atmosphere and can be installed to any size based on individual energy demands. Besides, the investment costs for such systems drops every year. Above mentioned reasons cause a strong interest in small photovoltaic installations, and an increasing number of energy prosumers. Selling electricity to the grid in the present renewable energy legislation is not profitable. For this reason energy produced from PV installations should be consumed directly where is produced. This paper shows the results of the computer simulations and analysis of annual, winter and summer half year energy yield of photovoltaic system for a single-family house. Following orientations were taken into account: east-west, south. Effect of tilt angle of the modules integrated with building façade was investigated. Economic and ecological aspects were analysed. DDS-Cad and PVSyst software were used for modelling and simulations.

Review of Maximum Power Point Tracking Control of Photovoltaic Systems in Case of Uniform & Non-uniform Irradiance Conditions

It is crucial to improve the photovoltaic (PV) system efficiency and to develop the reliability of PV generation control systems. One of the approaches to increase the efficiency of PV power generation system is to operate the PV systems optimally at the maximum power point. However, the PV system can be optimally operated only at a specific output voltage; otherwise the output power fluctuates under intermittent weather conditions. In addition, it is very difficult to test the performance of PV systems controller under the same weather condition during the development process where the field testing is costly and time consuming. For these reasons, the presentation is about the state of the art techniques to track the maximum available output power of photovoltaic systems called maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control systems. This topic could be also one of the most challenges in photovoltaic systems application that has been receiving much more attention worldwide. The talks will cover the application of intelligent techniques by means the artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy logic controller scheme using polar information to develop a novel real-time simulation technique for MPPT control by using dSPACE real-time interface system. In this case, the three-layer feed-forward ANN is trained once for different scenarios to determine the global MPP voltage and power and the fuzzy logic with polar information controller takes the global maximum power point (MPP) voltage as a reference voltage to generate the required control signal for the power converter. This type of fuzzy logic rules is implemented for the first time in MPPT control application. The proposed method has been tested using different solar cell technologies such as monocrystalline silicon, thin-film cadmium telluride and triple junction amorphous silicon solar cells. The verification of availability and stability of the proposed system through the real-time simulator shows that the proposed system can respond accurately for different scenarios and different solar cell technologies. In other cases, one of the main causes of reducing energy yield of photovoltaic systems is the partially shaded condition. Although the conventional MPPT control algorithms operate well in a uniform solar irradiance, they do not operate well in non-uniform solar irradiance conditions. The non-uniform conditions cause multiple local maximum power points on the power-voltage curve. The conventional MPPT methods cannot distinguish between the global and local peaks. Since the global power point may change within a large voltage window and also its position depends on shading patterns, it is very difficult to recognize the global operating point under partially shaded conditions. From these reasons, the presentation will address the effectiveness of the proposed MPPT method to solve the partially shaded conditions under the experimental real-time simulation technique based dSPACE real-time interface system for different size of PV arrays, such as 3x3(0.5kW) and 20x3(3.3kW) and different interconnected PV arrays, for instance series-parallel (SP), bridge link (BL) and total cross tied (TCT) configurations.

Energetic analysis of simplified 2-position and 3-position North-South horizontal single-axis sun tracking concepts

Sun trackers allow the energy yield of photovoltaic systems to be increased. Among the different types of sun tracking strategies, North-South horizontal single-axis sun trackers are of big interest nowadays, especially for their implementation in utility-scale photovoltaic plants. It is important to find concepts which simplify as much as possible these sun trackers. In this paper, an energetic analysis of two very simple tracking strategies, based on a 2-position or 3-position rotatory movement for the North-South horizontal single-axis tracker, is carried out for latitudes up to 50°. The tracker positions (morning/afternoon for 2-positions, or morning/noon/afternoon for 3-positions) change at pre-defined daily schedules and the tilt angle at the morning and afternoon periods is fixed. However, both the daily schedules and the tilt angles can be adjusted in the installation process, to maximize the annual irradiation capture in a given location. Such simple tracking concepts can be implemented without the need of illumination sensors, complex sun position calculations or continuous control of the motion. The energetic analysis was carried out over a set of 22 locations worldwide and the captured irradiation was compared to that of equator-pointed optimally tilted fixed systems and to that of the best energetically efficient North-South horizontal single-axis tracker, i.e. the continuous sun tracker. Results indicate that, depending on the analysed location, the 2-position tracker can provide between 41% and 74%, and the 3-position tracker can provide between 68% and 87% of the annual irradiation gains that the North-South horizontal single-axis continuous sun tracker achieves with respect to an optimally tilted fixed system. Therefore, these types of simplified tracking concepts, especially the 3-position tracker, can be seen asalternatives to existing North-South horizontal single-axis continuous sun trackers, providing significant energy gains with respect to fixed photovoltaic systems.

Local Complementarity of Wind and Solar Energy Resources over Europe: An Assessment Study from a Meteorological Perspective

AbstractTo assess the possibility of a combined use of solar and wind energy over Europe, a continental-scale dataset, with high spatial and temporal resolution and covering three years of data (2012–14), is analyzed. The 100-m wind is taken from the ECMWF analyses/short-range forecasts. To obtain hourly values of potentially generated electricity, wind is transformed into normalized electricity-generation data by considering a normalized output function representing the most common wind turbines available in the European market. A strong monthly variation is present, showing the maximum potential at high latitudes in winter and shifting to specific areas in the Mediterranean Sea region in summer. Hourly data for solar radiation are extracted from the satellite-retrieval scheme of the Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF). The energy output of photovoltaic systems is calculated by considering the amount of solar radiation that arrives at the surface of the photovoltaic modules. Together with the main functional dependence on latitude, the photovoltaic potential depends also on longitude, as a consequence of the average pressure patterns. Last, the local correlation of wind and solar resources is assessed. For hourly data, a weak anticorrelation prevails in the domain, suggesting a degree of local complementarity of the two sources in many regions. A strong effect from the diurnal cycle is observed in some regions. Also, a significant dependence on the month (higher absolute values in summer) and on the time scale (increase in absolute value with the extension of the time window that is considered for the correlation) is apparent.

Economic feasibility of bifacial silicon solar cells

AbstractBifacial solar cells and modules are a promising approach to increase the energy output of photovoltaic systems, and therefore decrease levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). This work discusses the bifacial silicon solar cell concepts PERT (passivated emitter, rear totally diffused) and BOSCO (both sides collecting and contacted) in terms of expected module cost and LCOE based on in‐depth numerical device simulation and advanced cost modelling. As references, Al‐BSF (aluminium back‐surface field) and PERC (passivated emitter and rear) cells with local rear‐side contacts are considered. In order to exploit their bifacial potential, PERT structures (representing cells with single‐sided emitter) are shown to require bulk diffusion lengths of more than three times the cell thickness. For the BOSCO concept (representing cells with double‐sided emitter), diffusion lengths of half the cell thickness are sufficient to leverage its bifacial potential. In terms of nominal LCOE, BOSCO cells are shown to be cost‐competitive under monofacial operation compared with an 18% efficient (≙ pMPP = 18 mW/cm2) multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si) Al‐BSF cell and a 19% mc‐Si PERC cell for maximum output power densities of pMPP ≥ 17.3 mW/cm2 and pMPP ≥ 18.1 mW/cm2, respectively. These values assume the use of $10/kg silicon feedstock for the BOSCO and $20/kg for the Al‐BSF and PERC cells. For the PERT cell, corresponding values are pMPP ≥ 21.7 mW/cm2 and pMPP ≥ 22.7 mW/cm2, respectively, assuming the current price offset (≈50%, at the time of October 2014) of n‐type Czochralski‐grown silicon (Cz‐Si) compared with mc‐Si wafers. The material price offset of n‐type to p‐type Cz‐Si wafers (≈15%, October 2014) currently accounts for approximately 1 mW/cm2, which correlates to a conversion efficiency difference of 1%abs for monofacial illumination with 1 sun. From p‐type mc‐Si to p‐type Cz‐Si (≈30% wafer price offset, October 2014), this offset is approximately 2.5 mW/cm2 for a PERT cell. When utilizing bifacial operation, these required maximum output power densities can be transformed into required minimum rear‐side illumination intensities for arbitrary front‐side efficiencies ηfront by means of the performed numerical simulations. For a BOSCO cell with ηfront = 18%, minimum rear‐side illumination intensities of ≤ 0.02 suns are required to match a 19% PERC cell in terms of nominal LCOE. For an n‐type Cz‐Si PERT cell with ηfront = 21%, corresponding values are ≤ 0.11 suns with 0.05 suns being the n‐type to p‐type material price offset. This work strongly motivates the use of bifacial concepts to generate lowest LCOE. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Predicting the energy yield of a photovoltaic system from an individual photovoltaic module

AbstractIn this study, energy yield of a photovoltaic (PV) system is predicted from the output peak power of an individual PV module. Measured energy yield of an individual back contact single crystalline silicon PV module is scaled with total number of PV module within the PV array to calculate the energy yield. Regarding the conversion efficiency of the inverter in the PV system, calculated and measured energy yield of PV system were compared for selected dates. To confirm the accuracy of the proposed model, days with clear and cloudy irradiation profile were selected from August and November. The difference between calculated and measured energy yield of PV array were found to be insignificant. Thus, current method which is straightforward, feasible and reliable to predict the energy yield of PV array using just an individual PV module. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)