Review of the performance of residential PV systems in France

Abstract

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords:Residential PV system Energy production Performance Ratio Performance Index CIS HIT PI FranceThe main objective of this paper is to review the state of the art of residential PV systems in France. This is done analyzing the operational data of 6868 installations. Three main questions are posed. How much energy do they produce? What level of performance is associated to their production? Which are the key parameters that most influence their quality? During the year 2010, the PV systems in France have produced a mean annual energy of 1163 kWh/kW p . As a whole, the orientation of PV generators causes energy productions to be some 7% inferior to optimally oriented PV systems. The mean Performance Ratio is 76% and the mean Performance Index is 85%. That is to say, the energy produced by a typical PV system in France is 15% inferior to the energy produced by a very high quality PV system. On average, the real power of the PV modules falls 4.9% below its corresponding nominal power announced on the manufacturer's datasheet. A brief analysis by PV modules technology has led to relevant observations about two technologies in particular. On the one hand, the PV systems equipped with heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) modules show performances higher than average. On the other hand, the systems equipped with the copper indium (di)selenide (CIS) modules show a real power that is 16% lower than their nominal valué.

Efficient design of residential buildings geometry to optimize photovoltaic energy generation and energy demand in a warm Mediterranean climate

“…In this case, we selected the optimal tilt for an annual design period β opt =Φ−10, where Φ is the latitude of the design location (Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving 2009). A lower tilt angle is not advisable because it favors the accumulation of dust on the panel (Leloux et al 2012). The Azimuth angle α defines the angle between the projection The percentage of solar irradiation losses considered was 12 %.…”

“…In fact, according to Wang and Qiu (2009) it should be at the core of development programs. Similarly, after analyzing the residential photovoltaic (PV) market in France, Leloux et al (2012) claimed that when optimally oriented, PV systems installed on buildings are a viable alternative to solar farms.…”

A Decision-Aiding Approach for Residential PhotoVoltaic System Choice: An Application to the French Context

“…Since 2006 this increase is higher because of the policy implementation in tariffs that obligates the French electricity company, Électricité de France (EDF), to buy and to pay for the electricity produced by PVS. As a consequence, at the end of March 2011, residential PVS represented more than 550 MW distributed in more than 160 000 installations of less than 10kWp, where 98% had a nominal power of less than 3kWp [2]. Nowadays, French PV policy is maintained although the level of subsidies has been reduced compared to previous years.…”

“…To achieve this, during the last years French energy policies have promoted the installation of PhotoVoltaic Systems (PVS) mainly through solar plants and residential PVS. As a result, at the end of March 2011, 1146 MW had been installed in metropolitan France, where about half corresponded to residential PVS (integrated into the buildings) [2]. From a general point of view, a PVS is a system composed of PhotoVoltaic (PV) modules and other complementary components called Balance of System (BOS).…”

Development Feasibility of Distributed Photovoltaic Power System in Residential Area of Chinese Cities

“…η 4 -other factorings influencing total efficiency Based on the equation above, the annual average solar power generation capacity per square meter in the study cities is calculated and the result is illustrated in Figure.8. In the calculation, the photoelectric ratio η 1 =10% is taken, which is relatively low value, while the sum of η 2 *η 3 *η 4 is fixed at 50%, which is also a conservative parametric value (Leloux, Narvarte et al, 2012;Meral et al, 2011).…”