Effects of failures and maintenance on photovoltaic system performance

Author

Lashway, Clin

Author_Institution

Southwest Technol. Dev. Inst., Las Cruces, NM, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

1988

Firstpage

1116

Abstract

A simulation program was used to investigate the effects of failures and maintenance on one photovoltaic power system´s simulated performance. The effects of module, panel, and string failures on power and energy production were simulated using software developed by the Southwest Technology Development Institute. The effects of maintenance at different levels and intervals were then simulated and the following conclusions reached: maintenance increases revenues if module replacement is not required; revenues increase with frequency of maintenance; and the benefits from maintenance decrease as failure rates increase.

Keywords

digital simulation; failure analysis; maintenance engineering; photovoltaic power systems; power engineering computing; solar cell arrays; PV power systems; economics; energy production; failures; maintenance; performance; power engineering computing; simulation program; software; solar cell arrays; Diodes; Equations; Frequency; Interpolation; Linear approximation; Monte Carlo methods; Multichip modules; Photovoltaic systems; Power system simulation; Production; Solar power generation; Testing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1988., Conference Record of the Twentieth IEEE

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1988.105878

Filename

105878