Characteristics of Solar Power Generation Plant: Z.P. Ncane A.K. Saha
Characteristics of Solar Power Generation Plant: Z.P. Ncane A.K. Saha
Characteristics of Solar Power Generation Plant: Z.P. Ncane A.K. Saha
Abstract—A solar photovoltaic plant model using MATLAB thin-film modules [2]. The data for a monocrystalline silicon
Simulink has been developed and presented in this paper. One module is therefore used for simulation purposes.
solar module is first simulated, followed by a string of series
connected modules and an array of parallel connected strings. A. Generic PV cell
These were initially simulated under standard testing conditions For a successful modelling and simulation of the plant,
(STC) i.e. cell temperature of 25 ºC and irradiance level of
expressions representing PV cell configuration and behavior
1000 W/m2. Furthermore, the plant was subjected to different
need to be obtained. An equivalent circuit of a practical PV
ambient conditions, aimed at studying its I-V and P-V
characteristics. Solar irradiance and temperature were varied cell is therefore shown in Fig. 1, which have components of
and the dependency of the plant to each parameter is observed. shunt and series resistances; and a bypass diode. The
The plant is then simulated using real data for Upington, South expressions defining the I-V characteristics of the solar PV
Africa. The paper further highlights future work which will be a cell are derived from this equivalent circuit and are given by
continuation of the work presented in this paper. (1) to (10).
I. INTRODUCTION
Renewable power generators such as solar power
generators play a vital role in supporting the power system,
especially under system emergencies. These types of
generators are highly dependent on weather patterns. To
minimize the variation in the plant’s output power brought Figure 1: PV cell equivalent circuit with Rs and Rsh
about by the varying weather patterns; other applications make From Fig.1 the output current of a PV cell is:
use of storage methods to store power for use under I = I LG − I D − I R sh
unfavorable weather conditions. Solar power generators are (1)
environmentally friendly and have an advantage of having The bypass diode current characteristic and the current
reduced carbon emissions as there is no fuel source required to across the shunt resistance component are then substituted in
burn for power production. (1) to yield (2).
For the purpose of this study, Upington area, located in q
Northern Cape, South Africa is chosen to be the location of I = I LG − I OS exp (V + RS I ) − 1 − V + Rs I
the solar power plant under study. The province offers AkT Rsh (2)
favorable solar radiation levels and has attracted the majority Due to the complexity of obtaining the parameters related
of solar PV projects in South Africa [1]. to the cell’s temperature and radiation intensity, most
parameters are available in a PV module’s datasheets. The
following equations define other unknown parameters, which
II. PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM are further defined in Table I. For an ideal PV cell where the
The system under study is a 30 MW PV plant, aimed at circuit excludes the series and shunt resistances; when the PV
being grid connected in order to supplement conventional cell is short circuited ISC=ILG. The assumption ISC≈ILG is
power generators in the event of network constraints. PV generally used in the modelling of PV arrays for a practical
panels used for the study are monocrystalline silicon type PV cell due to the introduction of series and parallel resistance
which is fairly more efficient compared to polycrystalline and as per (2). Equation (3) shows the bypass diode saturation
current which strongly depends on cell temperature. The
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bypass diode is used across each cell to avoid hot-spots in TABLE I: SYMBOLS USED IN THE EQUATIONS DEFINING THE CELL’S I-
solar PV modules [3]. Photon current and PV cell output V, P-V CHARACTERISTICS [3]
current are given in (4) and (5), respectively.
3
Symbol Description
T qE 1 1 V PV Cell output voltage (V)
I OS = I or exp GO −
T
r Bk Tr T I PV Cell output current (A)
(3)
S ILG Photon current (A)
I LG = [I SCR + K I (T − 298)] IOS Reverse saturation current of PV cell (A)
1000 (4)
T Operating temperature of PV cell (°K)
V
I = I SC 1 − C1 exp
− 1 q Charge of an Electron =1.6*10-19 C
C 2VOC
(5) K Boltzmann’s constant =1.38*10-23 J/°K
At the maximum power point, when V = Vm, I = Im, (5) is Kl Temperature coefficient
therefore expressed as:
ISC Short circuit current (A/°K)
V S Operating solar radiation (W/m2 )
I m = I SC 1 − C1 exp m − 1 Short circuit current at STC (A)
C2VOC (6) EGO Band gap energy of the semiconductor (J)
Under normal temperature (STC), A, B Ideality constant between 1 and 2
Tr Absolute temperature at Standard Test Condition of PV
V cell = 301.18°K
exp m >> 1 IOR Reverse saturation current of PV cell at temperature Tr
C 2VOC
(A)
RSh Intrinsic parallel resistance of PV cell (Ω)
Therefore,
RS Intrinsic series resistance of PV cell (Ω)
V B. PV cell characteristics
I m = I SC 1 − C1 exp m (7)
C 2VOC
For a 30 MW solar power plant under study, the employed
PV module is a Sunmodule make and its data as extracted
from the datasheet is given in Table II [4]. Some parameters
I − Vm (8) listed in Table II depict the performance of the module and are
C1 = 1 − m exp
I SC C 2VOC not necessarily used in the PV model e.g. module efficiency,
operating temperature etc. A single module was first
Substituting (8) to (6) yields (9). simulated, followed by a series connected modules called
strings and parallel connected strings called arrays. Only 1 out
of 19 PV arrays is modelled in this paper, which consists of 40
I − Vm 1 (9) series connected cells and 161 parallel strings.
0 = I SC 1 − 1 − m exp exp − 1
I SC C 2VOC C 2
TABLE II: 30 MW SOLAR POWER PLANT PARAMETERS [4]
Under normal temperature (STC), Parameter Specification
Plant Rating (assumed for research purposes)
PV panels total output power 30 MW
1 System voltage 1500 V DC
exp >> 1 PV Module (datasheet information) [4]
C2 Cell type Monocrystalline silicon
Open circuit voltage 37.8 V
Short Circuit current 8.28 A
Vm Maximum power point voltage 31.1 V
− 1 (10)
VOC Maximum power point current 8.05 A
C2 =
Im Module efficiency 15.7%
ln1 −
I SC Maximum power rating 250 W
TC Isc (A) 0.004 %/K
The aforementioned expressions show relationships of TC Voc (B) -0.30 %/K
different parameters that make it possible to obtain the output TC Pmpp -0.45%/K
power from the PV cell. These expressions are therefore used Operating temperature -40 ºC to 85 ºC
to model and simulate the solar PV plant under study.
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2018 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica
Fig. 2 and 3 show simulation results for a single PV increases the voltage to 1500 V DC. Fig. 4 was obtained with
module employed in a 30 MW solar power plant. The results 40 modules connected in series.
demonstrate the characteristics of the module, which indicate
short circuit current, open circuit voltage and maximum output 10
module. 5
4
10
9 3
8
2
7
S hort Circ uit Current (A )
1
6
0
5 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Opern Circuit Voltage (V)
4
250 5000
4000
200
3000
2000
150
P ower (W )
1000
100 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Voltage (V)
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Short circuit current can be observed to have remained
Voltage (V) unchanged with the series connection of modules, while the
Figure 3: P-V characteristic of a single PV module used in a 30 MW plant open circuit voltage increased to 1500 V DC. The maximum
under study
output power shown in Fig. 5 is 10 kW as per the expected
string power; with maximum power point voltage of
The type of module used in the study has an advantage of 1244 V DC and maximum power point current of 8.05 A. The
producing higher maximum power compared to that employed obtained results prove that with the series connection of PV
in [3], which means fewer modules can be used to obtain the modules, power will increase because of an increased system
same required power. The string and array were then modelled voltage. However; to get an even higher increase in power,
and simulation results are outlined in C and D respectively. both current and voltage must increase. The extent to which
the system voltage was increased to, took into consideration
C. PV string characteristics the inverter input voltage which was guided by the
A simulation of series connected cells to yield higher voltage requirements of the IEC standards. The IEC standards specify
was conducted. The assumption made is that all modules are a maximum DC voltage of 1500 V for low voltage systems
identical, which in practice is not the case. Certain parameters [6].
may vary due to the manufacturing process of each individual
module. Furthermore, different operating conditions may exist D. PV array characteristics
in different parts of the entire plant e.g. cleanness, shading For increased system output current, the strings were then
effect on some modules etc. [5]. The string and array models connected in parallel, which keeps the voltage at 1500 V DC
assume that the modules used are identical. To obtain an and increases the short circuit current to 1333 A. The model
increased desired output voltage of the plant, 40 PV modules was further developed to include 40 series connected cells
were connected in series. This configuration keeps the system
current the same as that of a single PV module and only
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ma =
400 Vtri (12)
200
Where: Vcontrol is sinusoidal waveform amplitude.
0
Vtri is the amplitude of the triangle.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Open Circuit Voltage (V)
The modulation ratio has an impact on the rms voltage
Figure 6: I-V characteristics of an array rated at1333 A and 1500 V DC output of the inverter and is chosen to be below 1 for an
x 10
5 inverter to operate in a linear region. The relationship of the
16 modulation ratio to the line-to-line rms voltage is given by
(13) [7].
14
3
12
VLLrms = maVd
10
2 2 (13)
Power (W)
8
Where: Vd is the input DC voltage.
The inverter reduces the overall rating of the plant due to
6
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2018 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica
1500
1000
500
Vbc (V AC)
-500
-1000
-1500
2
unit between PV modules and a load. With different
algorithms available for a MPPT, the chosen method for use in 1.8
15 degC
( ) ( )
ΔV V 0.8
right side of the MPP [8]. The results will therefore be used to 0.2
B. Irradiance Dependence
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1.8
Month Daily Irradiance Power (MW)
1.6 Average (W/m2)
1.4
1000 W/m2
January 627.425 0.996
1.2
February 528.415 0.831
750 W/m2
March 494.535
Power (W)
1
0.775
April 442.373 0.688
0.8
500 W/m2
May 354.587 0.544
0.6
June 304.386 0.463
0.4 250 W/m2 July 323.425 0.494
0.2 August 389.000 0.600
0 September 458.359 0.714
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Voltage (V)
October 530.785 0.835
November 566.789 0.895
Figure 12: P-V characteristics at varying solar irradiance
December 629.266 0.999
C. Solar PV performance in Upington Area
Upington real data as obtained from the South African
Weather Service was used for simulations to compare the VI. CONCLUSION
monthly data of the area, for the purpose of evaluating the
plant’s reliability which is not covered in this paper. Upington Modelling and simulation of a photovoltaic system was
data obtained was limited to solar irradiance; therefore presented and its performance under various irradiance and
temperature was kept at 25 ºC, for the purpose of this study. temperature conditions was observed. The study revealed that
Fig. 13 highlights the performance of the plant under different solar PV plant performance is dependent on both ambient
seasons, showing power obtained from the plant in different temperature and solar irradiance. SPWM inverter was also
months. With daily average irradiance levels per month for the designed and simulated, with the obtained results as expected
area varying from 629.27 W/m2 in December to 304.39 W/m2 i.e. conversion of DC-AC. MPPT method was discussed and
in June, it can be observed that the plant performs better the integrated system model will form part of the future
during summer seasons and decays during winter seasons. studies. Furthermore, evaluation of the plant’s reliability using
different methods i.e. neural network and fuzzy logic will be
conducted.
REFERENCES
[1] DoE, GIZ; “State of Renewable Energy in South Africa”, Dep. Of
Energy, South Africa, September 2015.
[2] Chapter 5 Solar Photovoltaics [online]. Available:
www.uprm.edu/aret/docs/Ch_5_PV_systems.pdf.
[3] S I. Rasel, R.N. Ali et al.,”Design & Simulation of Grid Connected
Photovoltaic System using Simulink”, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 17-19
December 2015.
[4] Sunmodule; “SW 250 mono/ Version 2.0 and 2.5 Frame Technical
specifications”, Solar world.
[5] Tomas Markvart, Solar Electricity, 2nd ed, Wiley, 2000, 1994.
[6] Ruben Inzunza, Ryota Okuyama, Tsuguhiro Tanaka, Masahiro
Figure 13: Solar PV plant monthly performance for Upington area Kinoshita, “Development of a 1500Vdc photovoltaic inverter for
utility-scale PV power plants”, Toshiba Mitsubishi-electric industrial
Plant performance shown in Fig. 13 is also tabulated in systems corporation, Tokyo, Japan, 2015 IEEE.
Table III, showing the actual obtained maximum power per [7] N. Mohan, T.M. Undeland and W.P. Robbins, Power Electronics,
Converters, Applications and Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 3rd ed,
month. chapter 8, 2003.
[8] P.I. Muoka, M.E. Haque, A. Gargoom, M. Negnevitsky, “Modeling,
simulation and hardware implementation of a PV power plant in
distributed energy generation system”, 978-1-4673-4896-6/13, pg.3,
2013 IEEE.
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