Comparison of the Models for Solar Photovoltaic System Performance Calculations for Ankara (Middle Anatolia)

In a techno-economic analysis, to reach truthful feasibilities, accurate performance calculation of PV systems is a must. There are manymodels/calculation schemes to estimate PV module performances. In this study, we compare the estimation of three software (PV*Sol,PVsyst, HelioScope) using a whole year field data obtained in Ankara, for five-module types. The reason for these choices of thesoftware is their common utilization by designers, financing bodies and investors. The results of the preliminary analysis showed thatthe calculation methods for the PV systems performances should be carefully evaluated and used as they contain quite many locateddependent empirical parameters, and distinctions in the fabricated modules. Therefore, the present article focuses on the systems thatuse the module types of Mono-Si, Poly-Si, µc-Si/a-Si, CIS, and HIT. The comparisons showed that the estimation accuracies of thesoftware are reasonable, yet the software Helioscope performs better than the others for the weather conditions of Ankara, MiddleAnatolia.