Monitoring of a PV system: The role of the panel model

The growing number of installed photovoltaic plants is making the possibility of simulating their behavior and effects on the power network more and more relevant. In this context an accurate yet simple model of the panels is necessary for the evaluation of the power production as well as of the system efficiency in off-line and on-line simulation. In the preliminary stages of large plant design, this model supports design and decision making, by permitting to simulate the whole plants and testing various architectures. In this paper a model of the panel suitable for the uses above, and a procedure to identify its parameters is presented. A case study analyzing the efficiency of a solar plant using the proposed model is also presented. Moreover the importance of the quality of the environmental parameters in evaluating the plant energy production has been discussed.