Performance of a 34 kWp grid-connected PV system in Indonesia - A comparison of tropical and European PV systems

We analysed a monitored grid-connected PV system of 34 kW_p in Indonesia to investigate the performance of PV systems in tropical climates. The PV system has been installed in Jayapura, the capital of the Province of Papua, Indonesia, by the beginning of 2012. Due to the aged gensets and frequent lack of fuel, the city regularly suffers from black-outs ranging from a few minutes to a complete day. Energy losses are related to the temperature (46%), to power outages (28%) and to system faults (27%), all relative to the total estimated energy losses of 7.2 MWh, which account to 17% of the total electricity production during the investigated period. When the PV system is online, it performs well with PRs of 78% and 79% for both Tripower arrays, 91 % for the SMC array and the Involar array performing significantly less, with an average PR of 54%. This is in line with other PV systems in Europe.