Performance Analysis of Grid-connected Pv Systems

Performance, quality and reliability issues are becoming more and more important for the emerging photovoltaic markets worldwide. The purpose of this work is comparing and presenting operational performance results of grid-connected PV systems, as collected and elaborated for Task 2 of the Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The data analysed here are derived from analytical monitoring data, hourly values and 5-minute-values of 21 selected PV systems installed in five countries in Europe and Japan. Graphical analysis methods are used to identify the energy frequency distribution and to explain the operational system behaviour, of the inverter in particular. The performance ratio is analysed at identical climatic conditions by extracting data with identical module temperatures and irradiances to detect small shifts of system performance. This contribution describes and displays different approaches and methods of PV system performance analysis to understand and improve the operational behaviour of PV systems.