The Optimum PV Plant for a Given Solar DC/AC Converter

Roberto S. Faranda, Hossein Hafezi, Sonia Leva, Marco Mussetta and Emanuele Ogliari
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Roberto S. Faranda: Politecnico Di Milano Department of Energy, Via la Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy
Hossein Hafezi: Politecnico Di Milano Department of Energy, Via la Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy
Sonia Leva: Politecnico Di Milano Department of Energy, Via la Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy
Marco Mussetta: Politecnico Di Milano Department of Energy, Via la Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy
Emanuele Ogliari: Politecnico Di Milano Department of Energy, Via la Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: In recent years, energy production by renewable sources is becoming very important, and photovoltaic (PV) energy has became one of the main renewable sources that is widely available and easily exploitable. In this context, it is necessary to find correct tools to optimize the energy production by PV plants. In this paper, by analyzing available solar irradiance data, an analytical expression for annual DC power production for some selected places is introduced. A general efficiency curve is extracted for different solar inverter types, and by applying approximated function, a new analytical method is proposed to estimate the optimal size of a grid-connected PV plant linked up to a specific inverter from the energetic point of view. An exploitable energy objective function is derived, and several simulations for different locations have been provided. The derived analytical expression contains only the available data of the inverter (such as efficiency, nominal power, etc .) and the PV plant characteristics (such as location and PV nominal power).

Keywords: inverter size optimization; photovoltaic power system; PV inverter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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