Designing and Energy Estimation of Photovoltaic Energy Generation System and Prediction of Plant Performance with the Variation of Tilt Angle and Interrow Spacing

Abstract

The focus of this research is to design a ground-mounted photovoltaic system at optimal tilt angle and interrow space to meet high demand of electrical energy. The Department of Electrical Engineering and Technology, GC University Faisalabad has been considered to perform the simulation test. This study is conducted using Meteonorm software for solar resource assessment. Furthermore, HelioScope software is used for modeling of a ground-mounted photovoltaic system, study of PV system’s performance in terms of annual generation, system losses and performance ratio and analysis of photovoltaic module’s performance, current-voltage and power-voltage curves for different irradiance levels. From SLD, it is seen that 11 strings are connected to each inverter and inverters output power are combined by using 20.0 A circuit interconnects. The performance of photovoltaic systems is impacted by tilt angle and interrow spacing. From simulation results of all cases, it is concluded that the PV system installed at 15° tilt angle with 4 feet interrow spacing are more efficient than the other installed PV systems, because total collector irradiance is maximum (1725.0 kWh/m2) as compared to other tilt angles. At 15° tilt angle, the annual production of photovoltaic system is 2.265 GWh and performance ratio of PV system is 82.0%. It is envisioned that this work will provide the guidance to energy system designers, planners and investors to formulate strategies for the installation of photovoltaic energy systems in Pakistan and all over the world.