The growing energy demand in developing nations has triggered the issue
of energy security. Exploiting renewable energy sources for electricity production has
been extensively investigated over recent years, and many countries especially Egypt
have been working to promote the use of renewable energy to decrease energy
consumption and CO2 emissions. Egypt has a climate, which is characterized by hot
dry summers and mild winters. Most of the country enjoys many hours of sunshine
and high levels of illumination. This has given birth to the widespread use of solar
water heaters, but as yet there has been little development of domestic electricity
generation using photovoltaic (PV) panels.
Grid connected PV systems have become the best alternatives in solar energy
application, fast solution and economical. Performance analysis of this grid connected
prototype could help in designing, operating and maintenance of new grid connected
systems.
A 5.5 kW photovoltaic grid connected prototype is installed on the roof of Benha
faculty of engineering, Benha, Egypt. The site receives a good average solar radiation
about 6.2 kWh/m2/day and annual average temperature of about 21.9 ºC. The plant is
designed to operate with a fixed tilt angle. In this study the solar PV plant design
aspects along with its annual performance is investigated.
The various types of power losses (temperature, internal network, power electronics,
grid connected etc.) and performance ratio are also calculated. The performance
results of the plant are also compared with other simulated results obtained from PVsyst
software.
Benha Faculty of Engineering, Benha University |
