Determining photovoltaic module performance and comparisons

Knowing electricity production potential of a photovoltaic (PV) system prior to installation is very beneficial for the investor to see the feasibility of the investment. There are three procedures that can be followed to calculate the potential electricity production of any system under different conditions. These are installation of sample systems and gathering data over time, the use of some databases/software programs to reach the performances and developing new model/methodology to make these estimations. It is obvious that installation of PV systems everywhere is neither technically nor economically conceivable. On the other hand, global software programs may not reflect local conditions to calculations. Consequently, there is a need to develop methodology that is able to derive location specific equations and coefficients and make accurate estimations. Its accuracy can be controlled by validating the results for some locations with the measured values from already installed PV power plants (PV PP). So, in this study we initially develop a methodology to calculate efficiency and electricity production performance of some modules for Ankara and compare the results with the measured values owing to the system installed on the roof of the Middle East Technical University Solar Energy Research Center (METU GUNAM) in Ankara/Turkey. The methodology initially calculates solar irradiation falling on the modules that is the input. Then the performance of the module is calculated by using developed methodology. There are also some online software programs to calculate the performances, such as EU PVGIS and PV WATTS. We analyzed and used these software programs and compare their results with the results of newly developed methodology. As proven through mean-bias error (MBE), root-mean-square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) statistical comparison methods, the methodology of this study has given the most accurate results.