Sizing of photovoltaic sources and storage devices for stand-alone power plants

The paper deals with the sizing a PV based source capable of working stand alone. The objective in the design of a PV system is to provide reliable power supply to the load without interruptions and without wasting energy. Several methods for evaluating the achievement of the above objective were found in the literature. In the paper authors proposes a method to size, in one step, the source and the storage systems. In this way it is possible to achieve an optimal sizing with a consequent reduction of plant costs. The resulting system has to be capable of satisfying the load demand in all the weather conditions. Numerical simulations have been effected to show the effectiveness of the proposed method and the capability of the sized system of supplying the load under real working conditions.