Linking performance of PV systems in India with socio-economic aspects of installation

Author

Kuthanazhi, Vivek ; Chattopadhyay, Subrata ; Dubey, Richa ; John, Jim Joseph ; Solanki, Chetan Singh ; Kottantharayil, Anil ; Arora, Brij Mohan ; Narasimhan, K.L. ; Vasi, Juzer ; Kumar, Ajit ; Sastry, O.S.

Author_Institution

Nat. Centre for Photovoltaic Res. & Educ., Indian Inst. of Technol. Bombay, Mumbai, India

fYear

2014

fDate

8-13 June 2014

Firstpage

1448

Lastpage

1451

Abstract

A survey of PV modules in the field for more than 5 years in India has been conducted The analysis revealed that module degradation rates are linked with the social and behavioral issues of the end users. The appropriateness in system installation, maintenance and hence the degradation depends on the type of ownership of the system, the financial model for the installation and the end purpose. We found that whenever there are cash flows associated with the installations in terms of savings or income generation, the maintenance activities are properly done, irrespective of the type of ownership of the system. Community owned PV installations were found to be better installed and maintained than individual systems because of the presence of institutionalized mechanisms for operation and maintenance.

Keywords

photovoltaic power systems; power generation economics; India; PV modules; PV systems; cash flows; community owned PV installations; financial model; institutionalized mechanisms; linking performance; maintenance activity; module degradation rates; socio-economic aspects; Government; Green products; Indexes; Maintenance engineering; PV system maintenance; community ownership; module degradation; module installation; module shading;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925188

Filename

6925188