Chapter 10
Module Deployment and Energy Rating
Mauro Pravettoni
Abstract This chapter will explain in detail how to calculate, from the power rating
of a photovoltaic module, the total energy that the module is expected to generate in
one year of installation (energy rating). Afterwards, special attention will be given to
cases where this expected energy yield is not achieved due to power losses and failure
modes (including, but not limited to, known degradation mechanisms such as LID
and PID), looking first at the time scale of these failures, then investigating how and
in which cases these failures are recoverable. Finally, the tools to accurately perform
the energy yield measurement via monitoring of PV plants will be introduced, to
assist the plant owner in understanding when a power plant is underperforming.
10.1 Preliminary Remarks
Assume you have a 3 kW power meter and you want to get rid of your electricity
bill using the energy of the Sun hitting your house roof. A friend of yours, a solar
PV installer, quotes for you a good deal for a 3 kW installation and you decide to
go through with it. Will it be sufficient to supply enough energy to your gadgets and
appliances? «No», or maybe at this stage you are simply not able to give an answer.
Well, then look at the problem in another way: you have checked the history of your
electricity bills and done some calculations, which tell you that your consumption
is roughly 5 kWh per day. You live in Central Europe and you expect that, on the
average, you have 9–10 sunny hours a day all over the year (well, you know: a little bit
more in summer, a little bit less in winter…): that would render a 1.5 kW installation
well enough to supply electricity to your gadgets and appliances all over the year,
correct?
M. Pravettoni (B)
SERIS, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
e-mail: mauro.pravettoni@nus.edu.sg
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Shah (ed.), Solar Cells and Modules, Springer Series in Materials Science 301,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46487-5_10
249
Module Deployment and Energy Rating
Mauro Pravettoni
Abstract This chapter will explain in detail how to calculate, from the power rating
of a photovoltaic module, the total energy that the module is expected to generate in
one year of installation (energy rating). Afterwards, special attention will be given to
cases where this expected energy yield is not achieved due to power losses and failure
modes (including, but not limited to, known degradation mechanisms such as LID
and PID), looking first at the time scale of these failures, then investigating how and
in which cases these failures are recoverable. Finally, the tools to accurately perform
the energy yield measurement via monitoring of PV plants will be introduced, to
assist the plant owner in understanding when a power plant is underperforming.
10.1 Preliminary Remarks
Assume you have a 3 kW power meter and you want to get rid of your electricity
bill using the energy of the Sun hitting your house roof. A friend of yours, a solar
PV installer, quotes for you a good deal for a 3 kW installation and you decide to
go through with it. Will it be sufficient to supply enough energy to your gadgets and
appliances? «No», or maybe at this stage you are simply not able to give an answer.
Well, then look at the problem in another way: you have checked the history of your
electricity bills and done some calculations, which tell you that your consumption
is roughly 5 kWh per day. You live in Central Europe and you expect that, on the
average, you have 9–10 sunny hours a day all over the year (well, you know: a little bit
more in summer, a little bit less in winter…): that would render a 1.5 kW installation
well enough to supply electricity to your gadgets and appliances all over the year,
correct?
M. Pravettoni (B)
SERIS, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
e-mail: mauro.pravettoni@nus.edu.sg
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Shah (ed.), Solar Cells and Modules, Springer Series in Materials Science 301,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46487-5_10
249