Review and validation of photovoltaic solar simulation tools/software based on case study

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are an excellent solution to meet energy demand and protect the global environment in many cases. With the increasing utilization of the PV system worldwide, there is an increasing need for simulation tools to predict the PV system’s performance and profitability. This research includes testing and comparison of PV tools: photovoltaic geographical information system (PVGIS), PVWatts, SolarGIS, RETScreen, BlueSol, PVsyst, HelioScope, PV*SOL, Solarius PV, Solar Pro, PV F-Chart, PolySun, solar advisor model (SAM), and hybrid optimization model for electric renewables (HOMER), based on experimental data obtained from fixed on-grid 2 kWp PV system in 2019. The PV system is part of a research project related to the examination of the PV system operation in real climatic conditions in Niš. This research investigates the most appropriate PV software for PV systems design by testing the most commonly used PV tools. It was accomplished by comparing experimental data obtained by a 2 kWp PV system in Niš and estimated data obtained from different PV tools. The study shows that annually, the experimentally measured average daily solar irradiation on the inclined plane was 5,270 Wh/m2/day, and the lowest deviation of the simulation results compared to experimental measurements was obtained by SolarPro. Total annual electricity production from the given system was 2455.621 kW h, and the lowest deviation of the simulation results compared to experimental measurements was obtained by PVGIS. By analyzing and publishing the actual solar irradiation and PV power output data, this study could help researchers to increase the PV systems modeling accuracy.

Economics of Open-Source Solar Photovoltaic Powered Cryptocurrency Mining

“…70 SAM is preferred for PV systems design and simulation because it is open source, it is frequently updated, and its economic analysis tool accounts for the most recent values of equipment on the market. 71,72 l e d g e r j o u r n a l . o r g…”

“…For all locations in the U.S., a federal rebate of 26% is used. 71 Among the locations in Canada, only Calgary in Alberta has a solar PV incentive. Therefore, incentive values for Calgary have been used, and no incentive was assumed for the other locations in Canada.…”

Open-source Photovoltaic - Electrical Vehicle Carport Designs

“…The System Model Advisor (SAM) software is used in this study for evaluating the energy production of the PV system [55]. SAM is preferred to other PV simulation software because its results are validated with real-world data, and its operation is open source [56]. Furthermore, SAM has access to a large database of weather data from satellite measurements or weather stations.…”

Design and simulation analysis of 130 KWp grid-connected solar PV system using PVsyst: A case study in Egypt.

“…This is the standard configuration of a great deal of current grid-connected photovoltaic systems [5,6]. Several simulation software have been developed to assess a photovoltaic system's performance and economic potential to make the design process more manageable and simplified and boost energy applications, in particular, the renewable energy industry, such as SAM, PVsyst, HOMER, RETScreen, Solarius PV, PV Geographical Information System (PVGIS), HelioScope, Solar Pro, SOLARGIS, PV F-Chart [7][8][9][10]. PVGIS and PVsyst have been widely used to investigate and design the PV system's energy production, the latter will be considered in this study.…”