Wilfried van Sark, Utrecht University: No data, no performance - the importance of monitoring

IEA INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAMME
No data, no performance
the importance of monitoring
Wilfried van Sark, Utrecht University
Solar Event
7 October 2014, Den Bosch, NL

Content
•! Motivation
•! Work from IEA-PVPS-Task 13
–! Example: performance Italy
–! Example: data from web scraping
•! Specific yield determination in the
Netherlands
•! Task 13 reports

Motivation
•! PV is becoming a mainstream
energy harvesting option
135 GWp power, end 2013
1 GWp in the Netherlands
•! Optimal performance is required
•! But, do we know
“How well is PV serving the world?”
Without DATA we cannot address PERFORMANCE
Task 13: Performance and Reliability of PV systems

International Energy Agency of the
PV Power Systems Programme
•! 29 members: 24 countries, EC, EPIA,
SEPA, SEIA, Copper Alliance
•! Most recent member: Thailand
•! Activities are carried out collaboratively on
a country basis along a number of
technical and non-technical subjects
•! Currently, 6 Tasks are active
www.iea-pvps.org

Present IEA PVPS Tasks
•! Task 1 - Exchange and dissemination of information on PV power systems
•! Task 2 - Operational performance, maintenance and sizing of PV power systems and
subsystems (concluded 2008)
•! Task 3 - Use of PV power systems in stand-alone and island applications (concluded 2004)
•! Task 5 - Grid interconnection of building integrated and other dispersed PV systems
(concluded 2001)
•! Task 6 - Design and operation of modular PV plants for large scale power generation
(concluded 1997)
•! Task 7 - PV power systems in the built environment (concluded 2001)
•! Task 8 - Very large scale PV power generation systems
•! Task 9 - Deployment of PV technologies: co-operation with developing countries
•! Task 10 - Urban Scale PV Applications (concluded 2009)
•! Task 11 - PV hybrid systems within mini-grids (2013: combined with Task 9)
•! Task 12 - PV environmental, health & safety activities
•! Task 13 - PV performance, quality and reliability (2014 - 2017)
•! Task 14 - High-penetration of PV systems in electricity grids (2014 - 2017)

Relevant PVPS Issues
•! Scenario work
•! Market development and trends
•! Policy framework
•! Business models
•! New technologies and applications
•! Urban and rural implementation
•! Large scale deployment
•! Environmental aspects
•! Quality and reliability
•! Grid integration

Task 13: Performance and Reliability
of Photovoltaic Systems
ST 1: Economics of PV System Performance
and Reliability
ST 2: System Performance and Analysis
ST 3: Module Characterisation and
Reliability
ST 4: Dissemination

Task 13: Analysis of PV System Performance
DATABASE

Task 13: Performance Ratio over Time
Installed Location Range of PR Avg. PR
1980s Worldwide 0.50 - 0.75 Individual
estimates
1990s Worldwide 0.25 - 0.90 0.66
1990s Worldwide 0.50 - 0.85 0.65 - 0.70
1990s Germany 0.38 - 0.88 0.67
2000s France 0.52 - 0.96 0.76
2000s Belgium 0.52 - 0.93 0.78
2000s Taiwan <0.3 - >0.9 0.74
2000s Germany 0.70 - 0.90 0.84

Performance is going up
Performance ratio
IEA – PVPS Task 2
[Nordmann, 2007]
PR from ~60% to >80%
[Reich, 2012]
90% max?!

Motivation
•! Performance has been increasing in the past decades
•! Still, reasons for lower
performance than expected
(or promised) are difficult to
detect, due to insufficient
monitoring (in particular
1-5 kWp residential systems)

Statistical analysis Italy
•! Example size bin: 10-100 kWp, installed in 2007, full year
measurements for 2008-2012 (5 years)
•! Courtesy: Francesca Tilli (GSE)

Italy
All years averaged
Larger systems
somewhat better
performing
# systems
North: 58
Central: 48
South: 48

Data mining
•! Market is introducing web
tools for system owners to
share monitor data, e.g.,
SolarLog
•! Objective is to analyze PV
performance data
obtained by web scraping
techniques that collect and
organize these data
automatically in databases
•! “What you see, is what you
can extract”
•! Developed Python scripts
(Panos Moraitis)

Results
Country Samples System Size kWp
Netherlands 728 11.1
Germany 764 15.6
Italy 532 13.1
France 325 15.1
Belgium 565 6.5
GER ITA NL FRA BEL
P
M
A

Results
•! Yearly variation between 2011-2013 from 2-11%
2011
2012
2013
NL GER BEL ITA FRA

South:
+6-18%
FRA GER ITA
Annual yield (kWh/kWp) ±(stdev)
Country 2011
2012 2013
Germany
North 979±153 937±126 882±109
South 1081±154 1044±121 992±125
France
North 1030±362 993±201 959±154
South 1099±96 1092±224 1103±166
Italy
North 1219±170 1177±157 1094±148
South 1352±113 1337±199 1288±203

PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAMME Results: NL Geographical Variation
Region PR Annual Yield kWh/
kWp
Irradiation kWh/
kWp
Coast 79.3+/-2% 895+/-21 1165
Mainland 77.1+/-2% 833+/-19 1021
Temperature, wind ?

Task 13: Statistics on the Operation of PV Systems
AIM: Energy Yield-GIS or PR-GIS?

Determination of standard
specific yield in the Netherlands
•! Statistics Netherlands (CBS) annually publishes the
amount of installed capacity of photovoltaic systems:
722 MWp, end 2013 [1 GWp, mid september 2014]
•! PV generated electricity is calculated from the installed
capacity using a full-load-hours model: the average
capacity of the year is multiplied with 700 h,
equivalent with specific annual yield: 700 kWh/kWp
•! Renewal of protocol is necessary: PV systems in the
Netherlands now are producing much than 700 kWh/
kWp according to market stakeholders
! DATA needed to prove that
•! Expert work group advice, open source data, installer
data (representing ~2% of installed capacity)

Dutch performance data
2012
877 kWh/kWp
2013
874 kWh/kWp
Advice: 875 kWh/kWp (25% increase!), starting
from 2011
! Presently, PV contributes 0.5% to electricity supply in
the Netherlands (and increasing)

Conclusions
•! Obviously, without DATA one
cannot say anything on
PERFORMANCE
•! IEA PVPS Task 13, subtask 2
•! Collecting and analyzing data
–! From all participating countries
–! Statistical analysis, web scraping
•! Want to contribute?

Thank you for listening!
Q&A
http://www.iea-pvps.org/index.php?id=57

Part 2: IEA PVPS Task 13
http://www.iea-pvps.org/index.php?id=57
1.!Review of Failures of Photovoltaic Module, Report IEA-PVPS T13-01:2014
2.!Analytical Monitoring of Grid-connected Photovoltaic Systems - Good Practices for
Monitoring and Performance Analysis, Report IEA-PVPS T13-03: 2014
3.!Characterisation of Performance of Thin-film Photovoltaic Technologies, Report IEA-PVPS
T13-02:2014
4.!Degradation Behaviour of PV Modules under Different Accelerated Stress Conditions
Based on Stress Conditions Evaluated from Real-time Outdoor Testing, Report IEA-PVPS
T13-04: 2014
5.!Analysis of Long-Term Performance of PV Systems - Different Data Resolution for
Different Purposes,, Report IEA-PVPS T13-05:2014

Global co-operation towards
sustainable deployment of PV power systems
9th Task 13 Expert Meeting in Freiburg, Germany,
April 2014

Wilfried van Sark, Utrecht University: No data, no performance - the importance of monitoring

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