Typical Daily Profiles, a novel approach for photovoltaics performance assessment : case study on large-scale systems in Chile

Ascencio Vásquez, Julián Andrés (author), Osorio-Aravena, Juan Carlos (author), Brecl, Kristijan (author), Muñoz-Cerón, Emilio (author), Topič, Marko (author)

A growing photovoltaic industry shows exponential deployment worldwide, and it is expected to largely contribute to the energy transition. Because PV technologies will play a major role in achieving global sustainable development and climate goals, driving more energy-efficient scenarios will require efficient approaches to evaluate systems, especially when dealing with big data of a large region or portfolio. In this work, a novel approach for the PV performance assessment of photovoltaic systems, called “Typical Daily Profiles” (TDP), is presented. This approach is tested on the entire PV fleet operating in Chile from 2014 to 2019. The TDP approach can help to calculate key performance indicators, identify the mounting configuration of PV systems, and to detect major technical issues. A detailed validation carried on the Chilean PV fleet confirms the TDP approach’s capabilities to provide accurate PV performance results, neglecting external factors such as failures, grid curtailment, or poor operation activities. Chile was chosen due to the large variety of climate zones in its unique geography, which helps to understand the PV performance under different environmental conditions. Besides, this study reveals the immense potential of PV technologies in Chile compared to mature PV markets worldwide. On an annual basis, their unit capacity factors can reach up to 38%, performance ratios above 90%, and the highest energy yield close to 3350 kWh/kWp. Proving to be an accurate tool, the Typical Daily Profiles approach can be easily applied to other PV portfolios in different regions, and a periodical execution could help to identify and understand long-term performance losses.

• Language: English
• Keywords: photovoltaics, solar power plants, performance, PV system, Typical Daily Profiles, KPIs
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 357-374
• Numbering: Vol. 225
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-138853
• UDC: 621.383.51:621.311.243
• ISSN on article: 0038-092X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2021.07.007
• COBISS.SI-ID: 73679875
• Publication date in RUL: 23.08.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Solar energy
• Shortened title: Sol. energy
• Publisher: Elsevier, International Solar Energy Society
• ISSN: 0038-092X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5228039

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: fotovoltaika, sončne elektrarne, zmogljivost