Generating Module Files in PlantPredict -Stephen Joseph Kaplan-First Solar

GENERATING MODULE FILES IN PLANTPREDICTStephen KaplanPerformance “model-calculated” MPP, etc. © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201817First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if I am given a module datasheet? Manufacturer Datasheet as InputData Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201818First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if I am given a module datasheet? Manufacturer Datasheet as InputData Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201819First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if my only source of data is an IEC-61853-1 test matrix?IEC-61853-1 Test Data as Input Photovoltaic (PV) module performance testing and energy rating – Part 1: Irradiance and temperature performance measurements and power rating, IEC 61853-1 Ed. 1.0, 2011. Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201820First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if my only source of data is an IEC-61853-1 test matrix?IEC-61853-1 Test Data as Input Photovoltaic (PV) module performance testing and energy rating – Part 1: Irradiance and temperature performance measurements and power rating, IEC 61853-1 Ed. 1.0, 2011. Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201821First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if my only source of data is an IEC-61853-1 test matrix?IEC-61853-1 Test Data as Input Photovoltaic (PV) module performance testing and energy rating – Part 1: Irradiance and temperature performance measurements and power rating, IEC 61853-1 Ed. 1.0, 2011. Relative Efficiency Calculation Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201822First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if my only source of data is an IEC-61853-1 test matrix?IEC-61853-1 Test Data as Input Photovoltaic (PV) module performance testing and energy rating – Part 1: Irradiance and temperature performance measurements and power rating, IEC 61853-1 Ed. 1.0, 2011. Temperature Coefficient Calculation (Linear Regression) Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201823First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if I only have I-V curve data?I-V Curve Test Data as InputData Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201824First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if I only have I-V curve data?I-V Curve Test Data as Input1 For each I-V curve at a given Temperature and Irradiance, Isc / Voc / Imp / Vmp / Pmp extracted via graphical methods. 2 Resulting dataset processed like IEC-61853-1 data to generate:1. Electrical Characteristics @ STC2. Temperature Coefficients3. Relative efficiencies at low-light Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201825First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND What if I want to generate a module file as quickly as possible?Initial Calculation with Default AssumptionsAutomatically calculates a set of 1-diode parameters based on technology-dependent (ie. cSi vs. CdTe) generalizations, such as:• low-light relative efficiency at 200 W/m 2 is ~97% (cSi)• Series Resistance is ~50% of maximum series resistance (CdTe)• Recombination Parameter is ~90% of maximum recombination parameter (CdTe)• etc. Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201826First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND Disadvantages of Using Default AssumptionsInitial Calculation with Default AssumptionsMaking single assumptions for ALL c-Si or ALL CdTe modules is a bad idea! ? 1 Significant error between nameplate power and maximum power calculated from resulting single-diode parameters.Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201827First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND Disadvantages of Using Default AssumptionsInitial Calculation with Default AssumptionsMaking single assumptions for ALL c-Si or ALL CdTe modules is a bad idea! 2 Low-light performance does not match expected performance from measured test data (IEC-61853-1).Effective Irradiance Response calculated from measured performance data. This is the expected/target performance.Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201828First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND How do I “tune” the module to perform as expected?Matching Expected Module Performance12 Manually adjust key single-diode parameters.Use automatic series resistance optimization.Data Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201829First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND Module performance tuned successfully!Matching Expected Module PerformanceData Sources/Inputs Manufacturer Datasheet IEC-61853-1 Test Matrix I-V Curve DataGenerating a Module File Initial Calculation with Defaults Matching Expected Performance © Copyright First Solar, Inc. 11 December 201830First Solar Proprietary & Confidential - Finance/Accounting/RND Module File Ready for Simulation