Proof of Concept of an Irradiance Estimation System for Reconfigurable Photovoltaic Arrays

Vigni, Vincenzo Li; Manna, Damiano La; Sanseverino, Eleonora Riva; Dio, V. Di; Romano, Pietro; Buono, Pietro Di; Pinto, M.; Miceli, R.; Giaconia, C.

doi:10.3390/en8076641

Cited by 33 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Step 3: The irradiance is deducted starting from measured values. To do so, the solar irradiance estimation is thus assessed: The irradiance of each solar panel, is based on acquired parameters and measured current and voltage as in [27],…”

Section: Sp-based Reconfiguration Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hierarchical architecture for increasing efficiency of large photovoltaic plants under non-homogeneous solar irradiation

et al. 2019

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Under non-homogeneous solar irradiation, photovoltaic (PV) panels receive different solar irradiance, resulting in a decrease in efficiency of the PV generation system. There are a few technical options to fix this issue that goes under the name of mismatch. One of these is the reconfiguration of the PV generation system, namely changing the connections of the PV panels from the initial configuration to the optimal one. Such technique has been widely considered for small systems, due to the excessive number of required switches. In this paper, the authors propose a new method for increasing the efficiency of large PV systems under nonhomogeneous solar irradiation using Series-Parallel (SP) topology. In the first part of the paper, the authors propose a method containing two key points: a switching matrix to change the connection of PV panels based on SP topology; the demonstration that the SP-based reconfiguration method can increase the efficiency of the photovoltaic system up to 50%. In the second part, the authors propose the extension of the method proposed in the first part to improve the efficiency of large solar generation systems by means of a two-levels architecture to minimize the cost of fabrication of the switching matrix.

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Section: Sp-based Reconfiguration Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hierarchical architecture for increasing efficiency of large photovoltaic plants under non-homogeneous solar irradiation

et al. 2019

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“…Similarly, Authors of [15] propose a globally convergent estimator based on the immersion and invariance (I&I) principle. In [16], temperature and DC electrical measurements are used to perform real-time estimation of the irradiance. The method has the drawback of requiring the PV system to move in three different states (panel under load, short circuit or open circuit), a feature that is not normally implemented in commercial PV systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photovoltaic-Model-Based Solar Irradiance Estimators: Performance Comparison and Application to Maximum Power Forecasting

Scolari

Sossan

Paolone

2018

IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy

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Abstract-Due to the increasing proportion of distributed photovoltaic (PV) production in the generation mix, the knowledge of the PV generation capacity has become a key factor. In this work, we propose to compute the PV plant maximum power starting from the indirectly-estimated irradiance. Three estimators are compared in terms of i) ability to compute the PV plant maximum power, ii) bandwidth and iii) robustness against measurements noise. The approaches rely on measurements of the DC voltage, current, and cell temperature and on a model of the PV array. We show that the considered methods can accurately reconstruct the PV maximum generation even during curtailment periods, i.e. when the measured PV power is not representative of the maximum potential of the PV array. Performance evaluation is carried out by using a dedicated experimental setup on a 14.3 kWp rooftop PV installation. Results also proved that the analyzed methods can outperform pyranometer-based estimations, with a less complex sensing system. We show how the obtained PV maximum power values can be applied to train time series-based solar maximum power forecasting techniques. This is beneficial when the measured power values, commonly used as training, are not representative of the maximum PV potential.

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“…For a given operating condition, each one of these configurations provides a particular current vs. voltage (I-V) and power vs. voltage (P-V) curves, which may contain different numbers of local maximum power points (LMPPs) and a different global maximum power point (GMPP). Therefore, for a given operating condition, there is at least one configuration that provides the largest GMPP or, in other words, that best mitigates the effects of a particular mismatching condition [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Procedure for Modeling Photovoltaic Arrays under Any Configuration and Shading Conditions

et al. 2018

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Photovoltaic (PV) arrays can be connected following regular or irregular connection patterns to form regular configurations (e.g., series-parallel, total cross-tied, bridge-linked, etc.) or irregular configurations, respectively. Several reported works propose models for a single configuration; hence, making the evaluation of arrays with different configuration is a considerable time-consuming task. Moreover, if the PV array adopts an irregular configuration, the classical models cannot be used for its analysis. This paper proposes a modeling procedure for PV arrays connected in any configuration and operating under uniform or partial shading conditions. The procedure divides the array into smaller arrays, named sub-arrays, which can be independently solved. The modeling procedure selects the mesh current solution or the node voltage solution depending on the topology of each sub-array. Therefore, the proposed approach analyzes the PV array using the least number of nonlinear equations. The proposed solution is validated through simulation and experimental results, which demonstrate the proposed model capacity to reproduce the electrical behavior of PV arrays connected in any configuration.

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Proof of Concept of an Irradiance Estimation System for Reconfigurable Photovoltaic Arrays

Cited by 33 publications

References 41 publications

A hierarchical architecture for increasing efficiency of large photovoltaic plants under non-homogeneous solar irradiation

A hierarchical architecture for increasing efficiency of large photovoltaic plants under non-homogeneous solar irradiation

Photovoltaic-Model-Based Solar Irradiance Estimators: Performance Comparison and Application to Maximum Power Forecasting

A Procedure for Modeling Photovoltaic Arrays under Any Configuration and Shading Conditions

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