This paper presents the Acceptance Ratio (AR) analysis for three different grid-connected photovoltaic (GCPV) systems working under the Malaysia tropical climate. AR is a ratio between actual AC power, PAC_actual, and predicted AC power, PAC_predicted. According to Malaysian Standard MS2692:2020, the AR value must ≥ 0.9 to classify as accepted in testing and commissioning test. In contrast, a rate < 0.9 indicates a non-accepted GCPV system. Historical data of the AC power output, solar irradiance, and module temperature from January 1 to December 31, 2019, were used for the analysis. The analysis procedure was carried out using Matlab and Microsoft Excel software. The analysis covers the AC power analysis and the AR analysis based on the threshold of 0.9. The plotted monthly AC power graph shows that all systems have lower than 15 % differences between actual and predicted AC power. On the AR analysis, System 1 was found to show early fault indicator with a monthly cumulative percentage of AR < 0.9 ranges from 34 % to 71 %, meanwhile System 2 and System 3 have a lower cumulative percentage of AR < 0.9 ranges from 5 % to 19 %. This result suggested that only System 2 and 3 are fault-free GCPV systems and working in good condition. The outcome of this study has succeeded in providing preliminary AR analysis results for three GCPV systems located in Malaysia. This study would help to evaluate AR threshold reliability to indicate an early fault of a GCPV system.

Electricity are commonly generated from several types of energy resources such as fossil and nuclear energy. However, due to emission of carbon dioxide from both sources, renewable energy is introduced to provide a clean and secure sustainable energy. One of the potential renewable energy application is Photovoltaic (PV) system; namely grid-connected photovoltaic (GCPV) system and stand-alone photovoltaic (SAPV) system. In this study, a mathematical approach of SEDA's GCPV sizing model is implemented to size a 4kWp of a retrofitted GCPV system by the method claimed to be the best practice mathematical design model under tropical climate Malaysia. The outcome of the sizing approach will then be evaluated with HelioScope software, one of commercial simulation tools available in current market. The final result obtained from both methods shows that the final PV array configuration is 1 x 12 (parallel x series) which is in agreement to the actual installed system.

The performance status of a grid-connected photovoltaic (GCPV) system is denoted by performance indices, namely performance ratio, capacity factor, and even through power acceptance ratio (AR), as documented in Malaysia Standard (MS) procedures for acceptance test of GCPV testing and commissioning (TNC). Even though AR analysis can be either on the DC or AC side, the MS TNC procedures implemented analysis on the AC side. Therefore, the question arises whether there is any significant difference when using AC AR analysis compared to DC AR analysis in evaluating the system performance. Thus, this paper evaluates the differences between applying DC AR analysis and AC AR analysis in accessing the performance of the ten kWp GCPV system in Malaysia. The AR analytical analysis employed the 2019 one-year historical data of solar irradiance, module temperature, DC power, and AC power. The results demonstrated that the monthly AC AR were consistently lower than DC AR with a percentage difference of approximately 3%. The percentage discrepancy was due to the variation of actual inverter efficiencies compared to the declared constant value by the manufacturer used in the AR prediction model. These findings have verified a significant difference between DC AR analysis and AC AR analysis. Most importantly, this study has highlighted the significance of AC AR analysis compared to DC AR analysis as a tool to evaluate GCPV system performance because AC AR has taken an additional factor into consideration, which is the inverter efficiency variation.