Shows the expected working of a system

Experimenting in real situations

Analyzing data and output to take technical decisions Optimize Parameter levels to get maximum output

Most importantly..to avoid such tedious calculations and save our time !!

wst = cos {- tan(j - b )tand}

-1

Itotal = I0 (e

qV /kT

-1) - I L

PV Sol: easy to use software

PVSYST: An all round simulator RET Screen: Primarily a Financial Tool Solar advisor model: Again a Financial tool for Solar PV
Solar Design Tool: An interactive online Simulator with 3D analysis

 Easiest to use Interface

Best software for study, sizing, data analysis and simulation Extensive contextual help manual explaining all the features of the software Can display output in various forms

 Preliminary Design: Pre-sizing of a project without real components Project Design: Fully featured study and detailed analysis of a project Tools: Contains tools for background data management

Simulation for systems such as : 1. Grid Connected 2. Stand-Alone 3. Pumping are available. Let us refer to these as System Types for the rest of the discussion.

Snapshot of PVSYST interface

1. Select the location of the plant where you want to conduct the pre-sizing analysis 2. Determine the system specifications Let us see an example for our first system type..Grid Connected.

1.

Selecting the location

select horizon profile

What is it??...and why do we need it?
Our solar panels will show us output only when the sun rays are incident on them.

In effect, they are active only when they can see the sun. So the horizon profile defines the amount of time for which the sun is seen by the panels from their location.

 On the X-axis is the Azimuth of the sun. On the y axis is the angle corresponding to the height of the sun. The lines starting and ending on the x-axis are particular days.
The other curved lines are the particular hours of the day.

2. Determine the system specifications

System Specs for Grid Connected

The System can be defined using the Active Area, Nominal Power or Annual Yield
plus!: Shading Options

Yearly Meteorological Yield : Optimization for the tilt. View the purple marker after clicking Optimization.

Not Optimized at 45 degrees as the purple marker is not at the highest point

Optimized Angle is around 21 degrees. Also observe that the losses are at 0%.

The Transposition Factor (TF) is important index in particular for tracking PV systems. It represents the ratio between the in-plane irradiation and the horizontal irradiation.
Loss by respect to optimum is the loss occurring when the panels position is not optimized It is not the overall loss, its just the loss with respect to power generated at optimum orientation

3. Results

Observe: After all the parameters are set,

That is, Location : Green System : Green

Results Option

Available

Results
The Results Window shows
1. Irradiation Plot: Monthly comparison of sun rays incident on the horizontal and incident on our panel
System Output Plot: Monthly output from our system

2.

3.

Results Table: Above information in tabulated form Costs: Breakdown of the total investment and yearly cost.

4.

Results window for the Irradiation Plot

Results Window for the System Output

Results Window for the Table

Results window for the Costs

Note: Make sure to edit the costs according to the Indian Market. The Cost Sheet will be provided to you.

Summary of preliminary design

What have we achieved? A superficial output analysis of our intended project without real components
Cost analysis of the project with specific costs .

Tentative or approximate values of our parameters in order to achieve optimization of the output power

In the class

Preliminary Design for Stand Alone!

 After Preliminary Analysis, we are ready to design our main Project.

Project Design can be done for all three system types.( Grid Connected, Stand Alone and Pumping)

Following are the steps we need to follow during Project Design: 1. Project Definition Common to the system 2. Orientation analysis options of 3. Horizon Grid Connected, 4. Near Shadings Stand Alone and Pumping. 5. System 6. Simulation

Let us Design a Project for a Stand Alone System

Here we will come across

i. Project Definition: Name of the Project

ii.

Situation and Meteo: The location and Meteorological(Weather) Data for the chosen location
Albedo: Apart from sun rays that are directly incident on the panel, rays reflected from the surroundings of the panels are also incident on them. Albedo is the fraction of light reflected by the surroundings that may be incident on the solar panels

iii.

 Various panel orientation options apart from the usual Tilt and Azimuth
These options can decide the type of tracking, if any

We can Optimize the performance by : Adjusting the system to get a maximum yearly yield Or using one of the tracking options which maximizes the incident solar radiation.

 In this window we will be able to view a Horizon Line Drawing.

Tells us at what time we start seeing the sun on a particular day. The smallest line is 22nd Dec. The Red line can be used to define a custom Horizon. For more queries, we may refer to the manual.

Default Horizon

Custom Horizon

 This parameter enables us to define the amount and type of shading Option for Construction/Perspective : Design panel formations and obstacles Various other tools in this option are shown in snapshots

Select a PV Configuration

Select a Shading Object

Example of a constructed shading object

Panel

Sun

Shading object

1. Defining the users Needs

2. Selecting the model for the PV Module and a compatible Battery Set model according to the users needs

3. Deciding the Regulator for the System

4. Determining the tolerable fraction of losses.

Select the Battery configuration and Model According to the needs

 LOL: Loss of Load Probability that the users needs cannot be fulfilled. Requested Autonomy: Amount of time for which the battery will be required to run alone when it is in full charged state.

Select the PV module and its Configuration

Keep checking this region for errors or instructions regarding our system

Click here to proceed to the regulator selection

In the ClassAgain

Create a Project for a Grid Connected System.

 Data regarding all the parameters is processed Various graphs and tables as a result of the simulation
Can choose from a wide list of variables for both the axes, in order to get the data in our preferred form

We can also obtain a formal report of the system in pdf format

Hourly Data Storage

Special Graphs

Simulation in process

After the simulation is complete, we can obtain a number of graphs at the output of which few are shown.

We can also analyze the output in a tabulated form if required..

Use PVSYST manual.