Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept.

of EEE

Table of Contents
List of Tables

List of Figures

Abstract

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Fixed Tilt System
1.3 Single Axis Tracking System
1.4 Dual Axis Tracking System

Chapter 2: Literature Survey

Chapter 3: Proposed System

Chapter 4: Introduction to PVsyst and Google SketchUp

4.1 PVsyst Software

4.1.1 Introduction
4.1.2 Photovoltaic system parameters for performance analysis
4.1.3 Overview
4.2 SketchUp
4.2.1 Introduction
4.2.2 What is SketchUp?
4.2.3 3D Warehouse
4.2.4 Plugin
4.2.5 Extension Warehouse
4.2.6 History
Chapter 5: Block Diagram and Software Process
5.1 Block Diagram
5.1.1 Layout of 100KW Plant
5.1.2 Array Layout
5.1.3 Module Specifications and Characteristics
5.1.4 Inverter Specifications and Characteristics
5.1.5 Single Line Diagram of 100KW PV Plant
5.1.6 Simplified Schema of 20KW PV Plant
5.2 Software Process
5.2.1 Using PVsyst a Brief Tutorial

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

5.2.2 Using SketchUp a Brief Tutorial

Chapter 6: Simulation Results
6.1 Simulation results of Fixed tilt system without shading effect (Detailed Report)
6.2 Simulation results of Single axis tracking system without shading effect
6.3 Simulation results of Dual axis tracking system without shading effect
6.4 Simulation results of Fixed tilt system with shading effect
Chapter 7: Result Analysis
7.1 Comparison of Simulated data between Fixed and Single Axis tracking system

7.2 Comparison of Simulated data for Dual tracking system based on azimuth angle and
tilt angle

7.3 Comparison of practical data with simulated data of fixed system with and without
shading

Chapter 8: Conclusions

8.1 Conclusions

8.2 Future Scope

Appendices

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

References

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

List of Tables
Table Page
Description
No. No.
Table 1 PVsyst meteorological data input
Table 2 Balance and main results of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic fixed system
Table 3 Meteo and Incident Energy of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic system
Table 4 Detailed System Losses of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic system
Table 5 Balance and main results of 20 kWp single axis tracking system
Table 6 Balance and main results of 20 kWp dual axis tracking system
Table 7 Balance and main results of 20 kWp fixed tilt system with shading
Output generated for fixed and single axis tracking system without
Table 8
shading
Table 9 Variation of incident radiations and losses
Table 10 Output Generated for Dual Axis Tracking with different variations
Table 11 Variation of incident radiations and losses of Dual axis tracking system
Table 12 Energy injected into grid and performance ratio
Table 13 Location Details

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

List of Figures

Figure Page
Description
No. No.
Figure 1 Fixed Tilt System

Figure 2 Single Axis Tracking

Figure 3 Dual Axis Tracking

Figure 4 Layout of 100KW PV plant

Figure 5 Selected 20KW PV plant (highlighted)

Figure 6 Array Layout

Figure 7 V-I Characteristics (a)

Figure 8 V-I Characteristics (b)

Figure 9 Inverter Efficiency vs Output power

Figure 10 SLD of 100KW PV Plant

Figure 11 Simplified Schema of Grid Connected Solar PV System

Figure 12 Main Screen PVsyst (a)

Figure 13 Main Screen Pvsyst (b)

Figure 14 Project Dashboard (a)

Figure 15 Choose Site Location from Database

Figure 16 Adding New Location to Database

Figure 17 Project Dashboard (b)

Figure 18 Defining Orientation

Figure 19 System Dashboard

Figure 20 Generating Simulation Result

Figure 21 Viewing Report

Figure 22 SketchUp Main Screen

Figure 23 Choosing Template

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 24 User Interface

Figure 25 Building 3D Model

Figure 26 3D model of Solar panels installed on Building

Figure 27 Final layout

Figure 28 Exporting 3D Model as .dae file

Figure 29 Project Dashboard (c)

Figure 30 Defining Near Shading

Figure 31 Importing Shading Scene

Figure 32 Defining PV objects

Figure 33 Imported 3D Scene

Figure 34 Viewing Shaded part of panel

Figure 35 Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Fixed Tilt)

Figure 36 Performance ratio (Fixed Tilt)

Figure 37 Loss Diagram over the whole year for fixed tilt
Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Single axis
Figure 38
Tracking)
Figure 39 Performance ratio (Single axis tracking system)

Figure 40 Loss Diagram over the whole year for single axis tracking system
Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Dual axis tracking
Figure 41
system)
Figure 42 Performance ratio (Dual axis tracking system)

Figure 43 Loss Diagram over the whole year for dual axis tracking system
Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Fixed tilt with
Figure 44
shading)
Figure 45 Performance ratio (Fixed tilt system with shading)

Figure 46 Loss Diagram over the whole year for fixed tilt system with shading

Figure 47 Output generated for fixed and single axis tracking system

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 48 Incident radiation and Losses variations

Output generated for dual axis tracking system with different
Figure 49
orientations
Figure 50 Incident radiation and Losses variations

Figure 51 Energy injected into grid for practical and simulated data (Monthly)

Figure 52 Energy injected into grid for practical and simulated data (Yearly)

Figure 53 Performance ratio of simulated and practical data (Monthly)

Figure 54 Performance ratio of simulated and practical data (Yearly)

Figure 55 Sun Path diagram representing shading losses

Figure 56 Sun path during different months

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

ABSTRACT
Technical, economical, and environmental policies on global level led to the promotion
of green energy technologies especially use of solar power in the present electricity sector. Due
to which the scope for modeling and analysis of solar PV system prior to practical installations
became an essential part of service providers. So installer has to design the PV System before
installing it practically so as to minimize the cost and also to reduce losses in the system after
installation.

In this project, we proposed how to design a PV system with good reliability, low
installation cost and more efficiency by using PVsyst and SketchUp. The performance of a solar
PV system depends on the geographical location, system design, horizon and orientation of the
solar panels in a given system. This project mainly concentrates on changes in generation of
20KW system at BVRITN with different tracking systems. The efficiency of the solar system is
affected by the angle between a photovoltaic (PV) panel and sun. More direct sun light on PV
modules leads to enhanced energy yield. Therefore, tracking systems are implemented to
improve the performance of PV system by tracking sun trajectory. The foremost purpose of this
study was to provide comparison of energy yield for tracker based PV system and fixed angle PV
system and analyze shading effect. Tracker based PV system and fixed angle PV system were
designed and simulated using PVsyst 6.7. Performance ratio and the shading losses are
calculated and analyzed for various orientations. 3D-model of Practical 20KW system is
designed using SketchUp to analyze Shading effect.

Keywords—Photovoltaic; Google sketch up; single axis; dual axis; fixed tilt; solar
tracker; PV performance; PVsyst; Shading analysis

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction

Energy is an essential part of our fast-growing economies. There are numerous energy
resources. Human beings started to extract energy from fossil fuels but growing population and
increasing demands in energy has led to increase in fuel prices accordingly and depletion of
fossil fuels [1]. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentration has become a major environmental
concern, emissions from fossil fuel burning contains a major content of carbon dioxide (CO2)
which contributes to GHGs [2]. To reduce the consumption of fossil fuels utilized in thermal
power pants alternate energy resources are being developed and implemented widely. With
growing increase in energy demand and rapidly depleting fossil fuels the energy resources must
be renewable and sustainable [3,4,5].
Solar energy is one of the cleanest renewable sources of energy. Numerous
technologies have been developed to generate electricity from solar energy. Solar photovoltaic
(PV) is a widely implemented technology. Solar PV technology is simple and involves a direct
conversion of sunlight to electricity without any use of engine or turbine. Solar PV system are
rated in kilowatts peak (kWp), means the highest amount of power that can be generated with
fully available sun. There are different types of PV systems depending on the type of load and
grid configuration. Grid connected system is most common in the case of large scale PV
systems. Grid Connected systems are like decentralized power generation system with an
independent grid which is public electrical utility grid [6,7,8].The system consists of many
components but inverter and solar PV modules are the key components and play major role both
in the solar PV solar power system’s pricing and efficiency. The PV modules are affixed at such
tilt angles that maximum of sunlight is incident on the module surface. But the path of sun over a
specific area where modules are installed is not same throughout a year. In order to track the sun
for maximum sunlight PV modules are adjusted in orientation and tilt angles. Tracker systems
are being used for this purpose. Based on the direction and tilt angle following are the main types
of PV Systems.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

1.2 Fixed Tilt System

PV modules are oriented to collect maximum possible sunlight. The PV modules are
tilted perpendicular to the sun rays for maximum efficiency. Since the angle of sun varies all
year so the tilt angel is different for summer and winter. Increasing the tilt angle increases energy
generation in winter and decreasing the tilt angle is increases energy generation for summer
season. PV modules in fixed tilt system are tilted at a fixed angle which is calculated as an
optimum angle for the whole year [9, 10, 11]. Figure 1 shows a PV module oriented toward
south and tilted at fixed angle.

Figure 1: Fixed Tilt System

1.3 Single Axis Tracking System

Tracker controlled PV systems are installed to track the sun by changing the orientation
all day making sure that maximum energy is absorbed by the PV modules. The power
consumption of tracker systems is 2-3% of the increased output [12]. There are two main types
of solar trackers, single axis and dual axis tracker. Single axis solar trackers can rotate in one
direction on one fixed axis. Depending on the rotation there are different types of single axis
trackers such as tilted, horizontal, vertical and polar aligned. Figure (2) shows a single axis
tracker on a tilted axis.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 2: Single Axis Tracking

1.4 Dual Axis Tracking System

Dual axis solar trackers are capable of moving in both directions vertically and horizontally and
hence generating more output power as compared to single axis tracker systems. The dual axis
tracker system is designed in such a manner that the it always faces the sun and sunlight is
incident to the collector’s surface [13, 14, 15, 16]. A dual axis solar tracker system is shown in
Figure (3).

Figure 3: Dual Axis Tracking

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Selection of tracker system depends on various factors mainly geographical condition of the
selected site, utility tariffs, system type, system size and weather. Horizontal axis solar trackers
are suitable for utility and large-scale projects and vertical axis tracker system are favorable for
high latitudes. Dual axis trackers are favorable in the regions with high Fee- In-Tariffs by
government. Single axis tracker system performs more than fixed tilt solar systems and dual axis
tracker systems generate even more energy than single axis tracker. The performance varies for
different type of systems and operation environments [17, 18, 19, 20, 21].

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE SURVEY

Title 1: Comparison of Single and Dual Axis Tracker Controlled with Fixed Tilt Solar PV
System in Pakistan [22]
In this study performance comparison of single axis and dual axis tracker controlled solar
photovoltaic power system (PV-SPS) is done with fixed tilt PV-SPS. All three systems were
simulated in grid connected configuration with identical power rating of 2.0 kWp and same
modules and inverters. Fixed tilt and single axis tracker controlled PV-SPS were also physically
implemented and results were recorded for complete one-year operation while the dual axis
tracker controlled PV-SPS is simulated and results for a complete year are estimated. An
averaged 4.5% difference in simulated and estimated energy values is observed and considered
for estimation of dual axis tracker controlled PV-SPS results. In this study a dual axis solar
tracker system is simulated and energy generation of complete year is calculated, while single
and dual axis tracker PV-SPS were simulated and then physically installed. The details and
analysis of both the systems is done in last study [23]. The difference in simulation and actual
installation for fixed tilt PV-SPS is 5.7% and 3.3% for single axis tracker PV-SPS. The dual axis
tracker PVSPS generated 694.4kWh more energy than single axis tracker PV-SPS and 914.9kWh
more than fixed tilt PV-SPS, while the single axis tracker system generated 220 kWh more
energy in one complete year as compared to fixed tilt PV-SPS. In terms of percentage the single
axis tracker PV-SPS generated 7% more energy as compared to fixed tilt PV-SPS while dual axis
tracker PV-SPS generated 18% more energy than single axis tracker and 24% more energy than
fixed tilt PV-SPS.
Title 2: Solar Potential Assessment Using PVSYST Software [24]
Electricity is an essential part of our way of life. Most of the electricity is currently
provided from the conventional thermal or hydro power stations. With the growing concern
about the greenhouse gas emission and other environmental issues the renewable energy
technologies such as photovoltaic cells are increasingly being recommended for electricity
production. In this paper, the simulation of a grid-connected solar photovoltaic system is
presented with the use of the computer software package PVsyst and their performance was
evaluated. The performance ratio and the various types of power losses (temperature, internal

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network, and power electronics) are calculated. From the results, the viability of installing 1 MW
solar photo voltaic (PV) power plant is discussed by comparing solar energy production and life
cycle cost of some of the places in southern region of Tamilnadu. In this work, efficient PV
system is designed for grid connected environment using PVsyst software. For Grid connected
PV system, the viability of installing 1 MW plant in various places of southern part of Tamilnadu
are considered. In design calculations, special interest loan provided by Govt. of India is taken
into account for the lifetime of 25 years. The maximum solar irradiation is achieved at a tilt angle
of 9 0 (for Tuticorin) which is nearly equal to the latitude of that location (8.780) and no shading
effect is considered. For 1MW Grid connected solar PV system, the energy production is
maximum in Tuticorin (1523 MWh/Year) as compared to other locations such as Madurai (1414
MWh/year), Sivagangai (1335 MWh/year) and Sivakasi (1398 MWh/year).The economic
feasibility of installing PV plant in Tuticorin is better as compared with other places. The total
investment for installing power plant in Tuticorin is Rs.10.8 crores without considering the land
cost. This is almost equal to the total investment of the other location. The energy cost is
Rs.6.35/unit which is comparatively less than the other locations.
Title 3: Analysis of Different Solar Panel Arrangements using PVSYST [25]
To maximize the power generation from a limited area is one of the major concern due to
increased land cost and unavailability of lands in urban areas. The solar PV module directly
converts the incident solar radiations into useful electrical energy. The variation of temperature
and solar irradiance are the major factors which affects the performance of the solar PV module.
Shading on solar PV modules reduces the life span of the system as well as reduce the
performance of the system. Here, three different arrangements of solar PV modules are done on a
standalone system. In this work, the maximum generation was obtained from a three layer solar
PV system with dual axis tracking system. By this arrangement we can reduce the space
requirement to 58% to generate maximum energy. Electricity generation has now become a
major challenge for a country like India with rising fuel price and worsening air pollution.
Generating electricity using PV panels is a potential solution to the current energy crisis faced by
India as it is renewable and climate friendly. In large urban cities there was not enough roof top
space for installation of solar PV panels. In this paper, we had compared different panel
arrangement that will minimize the floor area and maximize power generation through tracking
the sun. In the case of single layer solar PV panel the area required to generate 1.5 kWh/day

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

energy was around 4.6 m2. So the land cost will be higher as compared with the three layer
system. In single layer solar PV module with tracking system, the area required will be more as
compared to the single layer solar panel and three layer system.
Title 4: Performance analysis of 100 kWp grid connected Si-poly photovoltaic system using
PVsyst simulation tool [26]

This paper analyzes the simulated performance of 100 kWp grid connected Si-
poly photovoltaic system. This study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of installing a
photovoltaic system for supplying the electric load of an educational institute. The simulated
system comprises 323 Si-poly PV modules. Each PV module has a rating of 310 Wp. All the PV
modules are arranged in 17 strings, with each string made up of 19 modules in series. Four solar
inverters, each having a rating of 20 kW are used for interconnecting with the grid through a
utility meter. The simulation is carried out using PVsyst V6.52 software. Meteonorm 7.1 weather
data sets of solar radiation and ambient temperature from the PVsyst database has been utilized
for this analysis. The simulation results were analyzed for assessing the performance of the
photovoltaic system. This includes evaluating the effective energy output of the PV array, energy
injected into the grid, performance ratio and other normalized energy productions per installed
kWp. The 100 kWp PV systems generate 165.38 MWh/year, out of which only 161.6 MWh/year
is injected into the grid. The annual performance ratio is around 80 % and the normalized
productions of inverter output or final system yield i.e. useful energy is 4.42 kWh/kWp/day.
Finally the loss diagram over the whole year is also computed. Simulated performance of 100
kWp grid connected Si-poly photovoltaic system is carried out in this study using PVsyst
simulation tool. From this study the following conclusions were drawn: On annual basis, 161.6
MWh/year is the energy that is injected into the grid with specific production on annual basis per
installed kWp is 1616 kWh/kWp/year. Maximum energy injected into the grid is in the month of
March i.e. 15, 800 kWh, and the least energy is in the month of July i.e. 11,060 kWh.The
average performance ratio (PR) of the Si-poly PV system is operated at 80.00 % in the simulated
study for the planned location.
Title 5: Performance Evaluation of Grid Connected Solar PV Plant Using PVsyst [27]

In this paper 1 MW gird connected solar plant installed and commissioned at PEC
University of Technology which is the largest in Chandigarh is studied and its Performance is

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Evaluated using PVsyst software. The average global horizontal irradiation is 5.26 KWh/m 2/day
and annual average temperature is 20.9 degrees centigrade. The study includes performance
evaluation at the tilt angle for which the plant is installed and comparing it with the optimum tilt
according to the site with and without the Horizon considerations. The study of the solar
photovoltaic power plant using PVsyst shows that the 1 MW plant produces more energy for
optimized tilt angle equal to the latitude of the site i.e. 30 degree as compared to the energy
produced at original tilt angle of 15 degree. The energy produced is 4.71 % more in case of
optimized tilt and thus while designing the plant this factor should be considered.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

CHAPTER 3
PROPOSED SYSTEM

PVsyst is software package which simulates the output with considering the shading
losses or considering minimum amount of shading losses due to panels itself. But, in practical
case it may not be the situation always, panels may get shaded due to trees, leaves, twigs, side
walls of roof top building, water tanks on building. So, to analyze this kind of shading losses and
to utilize the available space efficiently to generate more output we proposed, comparison of
simulation results of fixed tilt, single axis tracking i.e. (seasonal adjustment, tracking east to west
sun path using latitude and optimal variants) and dual axis tracking i.e. (varying azimuth and tilt
angle) without shading effect. Many literatures have been presented to increase the output using
tracking system. The comparison of fixed tilt practical data is done with fixed tilt simulation
result with and without shading effect. To analyze shading effect using simulation a 3-D model
has to be created in Google SketchUp and has to be imported to PVsyst to analyze shading
losses. The complexity of the system lies in creating a 3-D model of a specified location. While
analyzing shading effect through simulation the shading scene should be so precise to estimate
the shading losses accurately. Performance ratio of simulated results using different orientations
and tracking systems are been compared with practical fixed tilt system. Like so, Energy injected
into grid with different orientations and tracking systems are been compared.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

CHAPTER 4
INTRODUCTION TO PVSYST AND GOOGLE SKETCHUP

4.1 PVSYST SOFTWARE

4.1.1 Introduction:
PVsyst is a software package that allows the user to employ full-featured study and
analysis of a PV project. PVsyst integrates simulation of a PV system with evaluation of its
prefeasibility, sizing and financial analysis, no matter whether it is a grid-connected, stand-alone,
and pumping or DC grid system. Meteorological data is provided by Meteonorm 7.1 for about
1200 geographical sites. Meteonorm 7.1 contains monthly measured and hourly synthesized data.
Monthly irradiance values are averages of irradiance measurements during the period of 1960-
1991. Mainly meteorological stations in PVsyst are referenced to the actual ones; otherwise the
data is interpolated between 3 nearest stations. To obtain hourly values, PVsyst applies synthetic
generation to monthly measured data. Monthly meteo data from Metetonorm 7.1 includes global
and diffuse irradiation, temperature and wind velocity. Hourly data can be also constructed by
using another data source in PVsyst directly, however it is claimed that Meteonorm gives more
realistic and reliable results due to its improved model for temperature and wind velocity values.
Sim-ilarly to Meteonorm 7.1, various measured, interpolated or synthesized meteorological data
from such sources as Satellite, SolarGIS, US TMY2/3 NASA-SSE, and others are available for
simulation in PVsyst. It is also possible to import user defined data including set of parameters
listed in the table below [28].
Mandatory data
GHI Horizontal global irradiation [W/m2]
Tamb Ambient (dry bulb) air temperature [deg°C]
Additional data
DHI Diffuse horizontal irradiance [W/m2]
DNI Direct normal irradiance [W/m2]
GPI Plane of Array irradiance [W/m2]
WindVel Wind velocity (at 10m altitude) [m/sec]

Table 1: PVsyst meteorological data input

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Missing data in the imported data set shall be labeled properly (e.g. -99) so that the missing
values could be replaced by an average of the corresponding hour either from previous or next
day. PVsyst has a bundled data base of PV system components including currently available and
generic modules, inverters and optimizers. Manually defined components can be used in
simulation as well. Configuration of the system is done by the software automatically as soon as
the user defines a project area or desired installed capacity and chooses a module and an inverter.
Based on these inputs PVsyst proposes a system configuration, and thus preliminary simulation
can be run. The optimal sizing is done according to acceptable overload loss during the year, i.e.
the ration of an array nominal power to nominal AC power of an inverter. The optimal sizing
typically implies an over-size of power ration by a factor of 1.2. PVsyst allows the user to define
and control various factors and losses such as wiring losses, mismatch between modules, and
losses due to temperature, soiling and many others according to the mounting system, site
conditions, and unavailability. Shading losses, as one of the most critical parameter affecting
system performance, can be defined with 3D editor. Far shading can be set by PVsyst
automatically based on horizon shading from geographical data, imported from another database
or a site picture or drawn manually by the user. Near shading analysis perform by PVsyst is
constantly being improved due to its unstable and unreliable performance. The user can define
nearby obstacles either by freehand or by using objects form 3D tool, run and save a shading
scene to be used in simulation. Near shading construction is rather complex and demanding, thus
some phenomena are not accurately calculated and based on the assumptions (e.g. fraction for
electrical effect). After all required and desired parameters are set; the simulation calculates
energy distribution throughout the year. Thus, the evaluation of the system profitability and
quality can be done based on total energy production (MWh/y), performance ratio (%) and
specific energy (kWh/kWp) as a correlation between the production figure and irradiation
available at the site with given orientation. The potential improvement of the system
performance can be based on figures from detailed loss diagram that contains main energies and
gain or losses in the simulation process. Multiple simulation variants can be performed and
compared within the project. Economic evaluation of the system can be employed by setting
investment, financing and loan parameters. In other words, the user shall define the cost of the
components, (i.e. PV modules, inverters, wiring, mounting system), taxes, subsidies and loan
term and interest rate. Carbon balance, as a performance characteristic of the system, can be

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

evaluated within financial analysis tool. The Carbon Balance estimates the CO2 emissions saved
thanks to the PV system operation. The calculation is based on Life Cycle Emissions (LCE) as
CO2 emissions (tons) associated to energy amount or a component throughout the total life cycle
including production, production, operation, maintenance, and disposal [29]. PVsyst is
developed by Geneva University, Switzerland. English is the main installation language of the
software, however simulations can be done and reports can be exported in French, Italian,
German and Spanish as well. The pricing is based on how many licenses was previously
purchased by the company and on installation capacity (PVsyst PRO30 has a limit up to 30 kW
installed capacity, PVsyst Premium is unlimited).
4.1.2 Photovoltaic system parameters for performance analysis:
International energy agency (IEA) developed performance parameters [30, 31, 32, 33, 34]
for analyzing the performance of grid connected photovoltaic system. These parameters would
give the complete pre-feasibility analysis of the SPP and that includes: “reference yield, array
yield, final system yield, array capture losses, system losses, performance ratios, capacity
utilization factor, inverter efficiency, system efficiency, energy injected to grid etc. In this study
also, few of the above said parameters were used for assessing the performance of grid connected
PV system.
Reference Yield: It is represented with a notation, Yr and it is the total amount of energy
produced in the system when the system is said to be running at nominal efficiencies. This
nominal efficiency of the system is predefined by the array manufacturers at STC and can be
seen on the name plate details. It is mathematically represented as the ratio of total horizontal
irradiance to the global irradiance at STC. Yr is numerically expressed with the units as kWh/Sq.
m/day [30, 31, 32, 33, 34].
Yr = Ht/Go
Where, Yr is the reference yield; Ht is the total irradiance on a horizontal plane in kWh/Sq.
m/day; and Go is the global irradiance at STC in kWh/Sq. m/day.
Array Yield: It is represented with a notation, Ya and it is the amount of DC energy produced by
the photovoltaic array. It is defined as the ratio of DC energy generated from the photovoltaic
array to the nominal power of the photovoltaic array [30, 31, 32, 33, 34].
Ya=EDC/Po
Where,

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Ya is the array yield; EDC is the DC energy output of the PV array in kWh; and Po is the nominal
power of the PV array at STC.
EDC=VDC*IDC*t
Where,
VDC is the DC output voltage of the PV array in volts; IDC is the DC output current of the PV
array in amps; and time is represented with t in hours.
Final System Yield: It is represented with a notation, Yf and it is the amount of energy injected
to the grid on annual, monthly or daily basis. It is defined as the ratio of AC energy output of the
photovoltaic system (Inverter terminal output) to the peak power i.e. per installed kWp of the PV
array at STC [30, 31, 32, 33, 34].
Yf=EAC/PP
Where,
Yf is the final system yield in kWh/kWp/day; EAC is the AC energy output of the PV system i.e.
Inverter output in kWh; and PP is the peak power of the PV array at STC.
Performance ratio: The performance ratio is the final yield divided by the reference yield.
Performance ratio can be defined as comparison of plant output compared to the output of the
plant could have achieved by taking into account irradiation, panel temperature, availability of
grid, size of the aperture area, nominal power output, temperature correction values.
PR = Yf/Yr
Inverter efficiency: The inverter efficiency appropriately called as conversion efficiency is
given by the ratio of AC power generated by the inverter to the DC power generated by the PV
array system. The instantaneous inverter efficiency is given by
ηinv=PAC/PDC
Apart from the yield parameter, losses parameters also influence the performance of a
photovoltaic system. The losses are possible in almost all the components used while designing
the grid connected photovoltaic system. These loss parameters are of mainly two types: one is
array capture losses and other is system losses.
Array Capture Losses: It is represented with a notation, LC and it is the difference of reference
yield to the array yield. This loss mainly occurs in photovoltaic array due to various factors like
temperature rise of the PV cell, partial shade, dust accumulation on PV array, maximum power
point errors, mismatching [30, 31, 32, 33, 34].

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

LC = Yr – Ya
Where,
Lc is the array capture loss; Yr is the reference yield; and Ya is the array yield.
System Losses: It is represented with a notation, LS and it is the difference of array yield to the
final system yield. This loss is due to the inverter system and other electrical components used
for grid integration [30, 31, 32, 33, 34].
LS = Ya − Yf
Where,
LS is the system loss; Ya is the array yield; and Yf is the final system yield.
Nomenclature
• AC Alternating Current
• DC direct current
• EAC AC energy output of the PV system in kWh
• EDC DC energy output of the PV array in kWh
• EArray effective energy at the output of the array in MWh
• E_Grid energy injected into grid in MWh
• EffArrR efficiency of the array in percentage
• EffSysR efficiency of the system in percentage
• Esm_Grid monthly sum of specific electricity produced in kWh/kWp
• Esd_Grid daily sum of specific electricity produced in kWh/kWp
• Go global irradiance at STC in kWh/Sq. m/day
• GlobInc global incident in collector plane
• GlobHor horizontal global irradiation in kWh/Sq. m
• GlobEff effective global, correction for shadings in kWh/Sq. m
• GHIm monthly sum of global irradiation (kW h/m2)
• GHId daily sum of global irradiation (kW h/m2)
• DHId daily sum of diffuse radiation (kW h/m2)
• Ht total irradiance at STC in kWh/Sq. m/day
• IEA International Energy Agency
• IDC DC output current of the PV array in amps

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

• LC capture losses kWh/kWp/day

• LS system losses in kWh/kWp/day
• PV photovoltaics
• PR performance ratio in percentage
• Po nominal power of the PV array at STC in kWp
• PP peak power of the PV array at STC in kWp
• SPP solar power plant
• STC standard testing condition
• T Amb ambient temperature in °C
• VDC DC output voltage of the PV array in volts
• Yr reference yield
• Ya array yield
• Yf final system yield
• ηinv inverter efficiency (%)
• ηsys,T total system efficiency (%)
• ηPV,T PV module global efficiency factor (%)
4.1.3 Overview:

PVsyst V6.7 is a PC software package for the study, sizing and data analysis of complete
PV systems. It deals with grid-connected, stand-alone, pumping and DC-grid (public
transportation) PV systems, and includes extensive meteo and PV systems
components databases, as well as general solar energy tools. This software is geared to the needs
of architects, engineers, researchers. It is also very helpful for educational training. PVsyst V6.7
offers 3 levels of PV system study, roughly corresponding to the different stages in the
development of real project:
Preliminary design : this is the pre sizing step of a project.

• In this mode the system yield evaluations are performed very quickly in monthly
values, using only a very few general system characteristics or parameters, without
specifying actual system components. A rough estimation of the system cost is also
available.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

• For grid-connected systems, and especially for building integration, this level will
be architect-oriented; requiring information on available area, PV technology (colors,
transparency, etc), and power required or desired investment.
• For stand-alone systems this tool allows to size the required PV power and battery
capacity, given the load profile and the probability that the user will not be satisfied
("Loss of Load" LOL probability, or equivalently the desired "solar fraction").
• For Pumping systems, given water requirements and a depth for pumping, and
specifying some general technical options, this tool evaluates the pump power and PV
array size needed. As for stand-alone systems, this sizing may be performed
according to a specified probability that the water needs are not met over the year.
Project Design : It aims to perform a thorough system design using detailed hourly simulations.

• Within the framework of a "project", the user can perform different system simulation
runs and compare them. He has to define the plane orientation (with the possibility of
tracking planes or shed mounting), and to choose the specific system components. He
is assisted in designing the PV array (number of PV modules in series and parallel),
given a chosen inverter model, battery pack or pump.
• In a second step, the user can specify more detailed parameters and analyze fine
effects like thermal behavior, wiring, module quality, mismatch and incidence angle
losses, horizon (far shading), or partial shadings of near objects on the array, an so
on.
• For pumping systems, several system designs may be tested and compared to each
other, with a detailed analysis of the behaviors and efficiencies.
• Results include several dozens of simulation variables, which may be displayed in
monthly, daily or hourly values, and even transferred to other software. The "Loss
Diagram" is particularly useful for identifying the weaknesses of the system design.
An engineer report may be printed for each simulation run, including all parameters
used for the simulation, and the main results.
• A detailed economic evaluation can be performed using real component prices, any
additional costs and investment conditions.
Databases : the databases management - for meteorological data and PV components.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

• Creation and management of geographical sites, generation and visualization of

hourly meteorological data, import of meteorological data from several predefined
sources or from custom ASCII files.
• Database management of manufacturers and PV components, including PV modules,
Inverters, Regulators, Generators, Pumps, etc..
Tools :

• Measured data analysis : when a PV system is running and carefully monitored, this
part (located in the "Tools" part) permits the import of measured data (in almost any
ASCII format), to display tables and graphs of the actual performances, and to
perform close comparisons with the simulated variables. These give a mean of
analyzing the real running parameters of the system, and identify even very small
irregularities.
• Included are also some specific tools useful when dealing with solar energy systems:
tables and graphs of meteo data or solar geometry parameters, irradiation under a
clear day model, PV-array behavior under partial shadings or module mismatch,
optimizing tools for orientation or voltage, etc.

4.2 SKETCHUP

4.2.1 Introduction:

SketchUp, formerly Google Sketchup, is a 3D modeling computer program for a wide

range of drawing applications such as architectural, interior design, landscape
architecture, civil and mechanical engineering, film and video game design. It is available as a
web-based application, SketchUp Free, a freeware version, SketchUp Make, and a paid version
with additional functionality, SketchUp Pro.

SketchUp is owned by Trimble Inc. a mapping, surveying and navigation equipment

company. There is an online library of free model assemblies (e.g. windows, doors,
automobiles), 3D Warehouse, to which users may contribute models. The program includes
drawing layout functionality, allows surface rendering in variable "styles", supports third-party
"plug-in" programs hosted on a site called Extension Warehouse to provide other capabilities
(e.g. near photo-realistic rendering) and enables placement of its models within Google Earth.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

4.2.2 What is SketchUp?

SketchUp is a polygonal surface modeling program Polygonal means that everything
SketchUp creates is made out of polygons (flat shapes bordered by straight lines). Surface means
that everything it makes is hollow. Modeling means that it makes models, which are three-
dimensional (3D) digital drawings, composed of lines and faces (planes). Collectively, those
lines and faces are called geometry. SketchUp is also a vector program, meaning it creates vector
files with a skp extension. A vector file is a collection of lines and curves that scale up or down
without loss of quality. Examples are pdfs (Adobe documents) and dwgs (AutoCAD documents).
This is as opposed to a raster file, which is made with individual pixels and loses resolution
quality when enlarged. Examples are jpgs and gifs. SketchUp is strictly a desktop application,
not a Web-based one. It works on both the PC and the Mac. Files made on one platform transfer
easily to the other.

4.2.3 3D Warehouse:

3D Warehouse is an open library in which SketchUp users may upload and download 3D
models to share. The models can be downloaded right into the program without anything having
to be saved onto your computer's storage. File sizes of the models can be up to 50 MB. Anyone
can make, modify and re-upload content to and from the 3D warehouse free of charge. All the
models in 3D Warehouse are free, so anyone can download files for use in SketchUp or even
other software such as AutoCAD, Revit and ArchiCAD all of which have apps allowing the
retrieval of models from 3D Warehouse. Since 2014 Trimble has launched a new version of 3D
Warehouse where companies may have an official page with their own 3D catalog of products.
Trimble is currently investing in creating 3D developer partners in order to have more
professionally modeled products available in 3D Warehouse. According to the Trimble, 3D
Warehouse is the most popular 3D content site on the web. SketchUp designers may visit 3D
Warehouse to discover new products or for inspiration when designing their own.

4.2.4 Plugin:

A plugin, also called an extension or script, is a simple text filewith an rb or rbs extension
that “plugs in” to SketchUp to extend its native capabilities. Think app on a smart phone.
Developers use the Ruby programming language to make plugins, which is why plugins are also
called rubies. Each plugin performs a specific task. Examples are: render (Figure 9–1); make

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Bézier (French) curves; put all loose geometry on the 0 layer; adjust scene transition times
individually; perform energy analysis; add manufacturer information to a component.
4.2.5 Extension Warehouse:
The Extension Warehouse is a website containing hundreds of plugins written by both the
SketchUp team and third-party developers (mostly the latter). It is integrated with the SketchUp
software.
Click the Get Extensions tool or go to Window>Extension Warehouse.
Only IE or Safari will access it from within SketchUp.
You can go to it directly at http://extensions.sketchup.com/ with any browser, but accessing it
within SketchUp enables installation with just one click. Browse the categories or type a specific
query in the search field. When you find a plugin you like, click the red Install button.
4.2.6 History:

@Last Software:

SketchUp was developed by startup company @Last Software of Boulder, Colorado, co-
founded in 1999 by Brad Schell and Joe Esch. SketchUp debuted in August 2000 as a general-
purpose 3D content creation tool and was envisioned as a software program "that would allow
design professionals to draw the way they want by emulating the feel and freedom of working
with pen and paper in a simple and elegant interface, that would be fun to use and easy to learn
and that would be used by designers to play with their designs in a way that is not possible with
traditional design software. It also has user friendly buttons to make it easier to use." The
program won a Community Choice Award at its first tradeshow in 2000.

Google:

Google acquired @Last Software on March 14, 2006 for an undisclosed sum, attracted by
@Last Software's work developing a plugin for Google Earth. On January 9, 2007, Google
announced Google SketchUp 6, a free downloadable version of SketchUp, without some
functionality of SketchUp Pro, but including integrated tools for uploading content to Google
Earth and to the Google 3D Warehouse. A toolbox enables a viewer to "walk around" and see
things from different viewpoints and supports labels for models, a look-around tool and an "any
polygon" shape tool. Google SketchUp Pro 6 introduced a beta version of Google SketchUp
LayOut. LayOut includes 2D vector tools and page layout tools allowing presentations to be

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

produced without the need for a separate presentation program. On November 17, 2008,
SketchUp 7 was released with changes intended to make it easier to use, integration of
SketchUp's Component Browser with Google 3D Warehouse, Layout 2 and dynamic
components that respond to scaling. Windows 2000 was no longer supported. On September 1,
2010, SketchUp 8 was released with model geolocation with Google Maps and Building
Maker integration. Mac OS X Tigerwas no longer supported. Neither the free version nor the
professional version was available in a native format for Linux or Mac OS earlier than 10.5.
SketchUp version 8 uses under Wine has been rated "Gold". Geolocation information is always
stored in the KMZ file. The building designs themselves are saved in SKP.

Trimble:
Trimble Navigation (now Trimble Inc.) acquired SketchUp from Google on June 1, 2012
for an undisclosed sum. In 2013 SketchUp 2013 was released. A new site was provided,
Extension Warehouse, hosting plugins and extensions for Sketchup.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

CHAPTER 5
BLOCK DIAGRAM AND SOFTWARE PROCESS
5.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM
5.1.1 Layout of 100KW Plant
A 100KW roof top solar photovoltaic power plant has been installed at B.V. Raju
Institute of Technology (Aryabhatta Block). The plant consist of 400 PV modules each of
250Wp.The PV system arranged in 20 arrays and 5 strings each string connected to 20KW
REFUsol Inverter. Each String consists of 4 arrays in which each array comprise of 20 PV
modules. Each string consists of 80 modules.

Figure 4: Layout of 100KW PV plant

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

To analyze shading effect 20KW of the plant is been selected where the shading of tank is
projected on PV modules in section F. Below figure shows the selected 20KW (highlighted in
red border).

Figure 5: Selected 20KW PV plant (highlighted)

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

5.1.2 Array Layout:

Each array consists of 20 PV modules. The length of array is 8.4m and width of array is
4.035 and it is tilted at an angle of 17°. Length of each module is 1.66m and width of module is
0.99m and the gap between each module is 0.025m.

Figure 6:
Array Layout

5.1.3 Module Specifications and Characteristics:

Sirius Solar Energy Systems- Model No. SS-250

Specifications are as follows

Rated Power(Pmax) 250W

Open Circuit Voltage(Voc) 37.56 V
Short Circuit Current(Isc) 8.53 A
Rated Voltage(Vmax) 31.18 V
Rated Current(Imp) 8.02 A
Power Tolerance ±3%
Specifications are at STC: 1000W/m2 Insolation, AM 1.5, Cell Temp 25°C

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

V-I Characteristics of PV Module

Figure 7: V-I Characteristics (a)

As the data base of Sirius Solar Energy Systems is not included in PVsyst an approximate
characteristic panel with similar ratings has been chosen so that it can operate in the same way as
Sirius Model No.SS-250.

The Panel which is chosen has the following characteristics

Helios USA-Model 6Tp-250

Rated Power(Pmax) 250W

Open Circuit Voltage(Voc) 37.80 V
Short Circuit Current(Isc) 8.650 A
Rated Voltage(Vmax) 30.70 V
Rated Current(Imp) 8.140 A
Power Tolerance ±3%
Specifications are at STC: 1000W/m2 Insolation, AM 1.5, Cell Temp 25°C

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

V-I Characteristics of PV Module

Figure 8: V-I Characteristics (b)

5.1.4 Inverter Specifications and Characteristics:

REFUsol 020K

Specifications are as follows

DC Data AC Data
DC max. input voltage 1000 V AC nominal operating voltage 3AC 400V+N
DC MPP range 480-850 V AC nominal operating frequency 50/60 Hz
DC max. input current total 41.0 A AC Rated power 19.2 kVA
Operating temperature range -25…+55°C AC max. output current 3 x 29.0A

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Characteristics of inverter

Figure 9: Inverter Efficiency vs Output power

5.1.5 Single Line Diagram of 100KW PV Plant

Figure 10: SLD of 100KW PV Plant

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

5.1.6 Simplified Schema of 20KW PV Plant

Figure 11: Simplified Schema of Grid Connected Solar PV System

5.2 SOFTWARE PROCESS

5.2.1 Using PVsyst a Brief Tutorial:

This tutorial contains the following steps

• Getting Started
• Create a New Project- define the location and meteorological data
• Orientation – define module azimuth and tilt
• System – choose the system modules, inverters and electrical design
• Executing the simulation
Getting Started
Software Requirements:

• All Windows client versions currently supported by Microsoft: Vista/ 7/8/10 32/64 bit
• Other OS like MAC OS X (see here) and LINUX are supported through the use of a
virtual machine running Windows (for example Virtual Box).

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

• .NET 4.5 framework (installed by Windows Update)

Hardware Requirements:
• At least 1 GB of RAM
• At least 1 GB of free hard drive space
• Graphics card supporting OpenGL 2.0 or higher

Starting the PVsyst Software

To start PVsyst, double-click the desktop icon,

Or start PVsyst from the Start menu by selecting:

Start → All Programs → PVsyst 6.7.0

First contact with PVsyst

After opening PVsyst you get to the main page:

Figure 12: Main Screen PVsyst (a)

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

This gives access to the four main parts of the program:

“Preliminary design” provides a quick evaluation of the potentials and possible

constraints of a project in a given situation. This is very useful for the pre-sizing of Stand-alone
and Pumping systems. For grid connected systems, it is just an instrument for architects to get a
quick evaluation of the PV potential of a building. The accuracy of this tool is limited and not
intended to be used in reports for your customers.
“Project design” is the main part of the software and is used for the complete study of a
project. It involves the choice of meteorological data, system design, shading studies, losses
determination, and economic evaluation. The simulation is performed over a full year in hourly
steps and provides a complete report and many additional results.
“Databases” includes the climatic data management which consists of monthly and
hourly data, synthetic generation of hourly values and importing external data. The databases
contain also the definitions of all the components involved in the PV installations like modules,
inverters, batteries, etc.
“Tools” provides some additional tools to quickly estimate and visualize the behavior of
a solar installation. It also contains a dedicated set of tools that allows measured data of existing
solar installations to be imported for a close comparison to the simulation.
Create a New Project
Choose Project Design and then Grid Connected in the main PVsyst screen.

Figure 13: Main Screen Pvsyst (b)

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Click on the New Project button and then click on the Choose Site button to select the correct
project site and meteorological file.

New Project

Choose Site

Figure 14: Project Dashboard (a)

Choosing Site File or Adding Location:

You can either choose a site from the built-in database, which holds around 1,200 sites
from Meteonorm, or you can define a new site that can be located anywhere on the globe. In order to
add a new site to PVsyst, click on Databases in the main PVsyst screen and then Geographical Sites.
Choose New and locate your site on the Interactive Map tab, or type the geographical
location in the search box. Click Import and then click on the Import button with the sun icon.
Click OK and then Save. When prompted to save the hourly values, click yes and then Close and
Exit. You can now choose the new meteorological site for your project.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 15: Choose Site Location from Database

Figure 16: Adding New Location to Database

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Saving the Project:

When you are finished (i.e. you have gone to the Variant choices), you will be prompted
to save the definitions of your project. The dialog that comes up allows you to rename the
project. We recommend that you use a simple filename, since it will be used as a label for all the
Variants.
Creating the first variant for this project:
After having defined the site and the meteorological input of the project, you can proceed
to create the first Variant. You will notice, that in the beginning there are 2 buttons marked in
red: “Orientation” and “System”. The red color means that this variant of the project is not yet
ready for the simulation, additional input is required. The basic parameters that have to be
defined for any of the variants, and that we have not specified yet, are the orientation of the solar
panels, the type and number of PV modules and the type and number of inverters that will be
used.

Figure 17: Project Dashboard (b)

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Orientation:
Once the geographical location and climate file have been chosen, you will define the
array’s azimuth and tilt. PVsyst offers different options to fit various types of projects, including
simple fixed tilted plane, multiple orientations (up to 8 orientations), seasonal tilt adjustments,
‘unlimited sheds’ for large systems, sun shields (modules mounted to facades of buildings) as
well as various kinds of tracking arrays, both single and double-axis.

Figure 18: Defining Orientation

After setting the correct values for tilt and azimuth, you click on "OK" and the “Orientation”
button will turn green.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

System:
Click on "System"
The System Dashboard appears. The main system parameters, including module and inverter
model, system capacity, string lengths etc., are defined in the System screen.
Presizing Help
From the system description, we remember that we have planned power of 20KW or else
in either way we can define available area i.e. 133m2. It is not mandatory to define (area) a value
here, but doing so will simplify our first approach as it will allow PVsyst to propose a suitable
configuration.
Select a PV module
Choose a PV module from the database. Among “All modules” select "Helios USA" as
manufacturer and select the 250W model. In the bottom right part of the dialog PVsyst will
display a hint for choosing the inverter: "Please choose the Inverter model, the total power
should be 20kW or more."
Select the Inverter
For the installation in our example we choose a Triphased inverter from the database.
Among “Available Now” select “REFU Elektronik GmbH” as manufacturer and select the 20
kW model and PVsyst proposes a complete configuration for the system: 1 inverter, 4 strings of
20 modules in series.
After the module type, the inverter and the design of the array have been defined, the blue panel
in the bottom right part of the dialog should be either empty or orange. If you get a red error
message, check all choices you made and correct them to the values described above. We have
now defined all compulsory elements that are needed for a first simulation. For now, you can
click on "OK" to validate the choices.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 19: System Dashboard

Executing the simulation
On the Project's dashboard, all buttons are now green.
The "Simulation" button is activated, and we can click on it. A progress bar will appear,
indicating how much of the simulation is still to be performed. Upon completion, the "OK"
button will get active. Save the Simulation variant.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 20: Generating Simulation Result

Upon completion of the simulation, a report will be available for viewing and printing. In
addition, the Simulation Settings screen allows you to change the time frame of the simulation
(from one day to one year), as well as exporting hourly values of various parameters including
energy, inverter efficiency, PV array’s electrical behavior and more. Depending on the
complexity and size of the system, the simulation process may take from a few seconds to over
an hour.

Figure 21: Viewing Report

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

5.2.2 Using SketchUp a Brief Tutorial:

This tutorial contains the following steps

• Getting Started
• Choose Template
• Basic Tools
• Design 3D Model (Aryabhatta Block)
• Exporting SketchUp Model to Pvsyst and interfacing with it

Getting Started

Software Requirements:

• An internet connection is required to install and authorize SketchUp and to use some of
the features.
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer 9.0 or higher.
• SketchUp Pro requires .NET Framework version 4.5.2. For more information about the
.NET framework.

Hardware Requirements (Recommended):

• 2+ GHz processor
• 8+ GB RAM
• 700MB of available hard-disk space
• 3D class video card with 1 GB of memory or higher and support for hardware
acceleration. Please ensure that the video card driver supports OpenGL 3.0 or higher.

Starting the SketchUp Software

To start SketchUp, double-click the desktop icon,

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Or start SketchUp from the Start menu by selecting:

Start → All Programs → SketchUp 2018

First Contact with SketchUp

After opening SketchUp you get to the main page:

Figure 22: SketchUp Main Screen

This gives access to the Templates of the program to choose and design the 3D model.

Choose Template:

SketchUp comes with a bunch of templates that give you a head start depending on the
type of model you’re building. When you choose the right template, you don’t have to begin
your project by setting all the preferences—like units of measure, the way objects snap to each
other, the way the ground is represented, and the geographic location.

Choose Template from the main screen →Sample Template-Meters

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Figure 23: Choosing Template

Introduction to the SketchUp User Interface

The main parts of the SketchUp user interface are the title bar, menus, Toolbars, drawing
area, status bar, and the Measurements Toolbar. The following image shows the SketchUp user
interface.
Title Bar
The title bar contains the standard Microsoft Windows controls (close, minimize, and
maximize) on the right, and the name of the currently opened file. A blank drawing area appears
when you start SketchUp. The title bar displays the name of the blank file as "Untitled,"
indicating that you have not yet saved your work.
Menus
Menus appear below the title bar. The majority of SketchUp tools, commands, and
settings are available within these menus. The menus are: File, Edit, View, Camera, Draw,
Tools, Window, Extensions and Help.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 24: User Interface

Toolbars
The Toolbars appear below the menus and along the left side of the application, contain a
user-defined set of tools and controls.
Drawing Area
The drawing area is where you create your model. The 3D space of the drawing area is
identified visually by the drawing axes. The drawing axes are three colored lines, perpendicular
to each other. These axes are helpful in providing a sense of direction in 3D space while you
work. The drawing area also contains a simple model of a person to give you a sense of 3D
space.
Status Bar
The status bar is the long gray rectangular area below drawing area. The left side of the
status bar displays tips for the currently used drawing tools, including special functions
accessible using keyboard shortcuts. Watch the status bar to discover advanced capabilities of
each of the SketchUp tools.

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Basic Tools:
Icon Tool Description
Rectangle Draw rectangles on a plane. Start by clicking any point to be a starting
corner and the diagonal of the rectangle will follow the cursor. Click again
to release point. To draw exact dimensions, start by clicking on a start
point, then type in “x, y” units for dimensions and press “enter.” Hold
down “shift” to draw perfect square.
Circle Draw circles on a plane. Start by clicking any point to be the center of the
circle and the radius will follow the cursor. Click again to release point. To
draw exact dimensions, start by clicking on a start point, then type in “r”
units for radius and press enter. (Note this is not an ellipse tool but a circle
tool)
Polygon Draw regular polygons on a plane. Start by clicking any point to be the
center of the polygon. Then type in the number of sides you wish for the
polygon to have. The radius to the apex of the polygon will then follow
your cursor. Then follow the same instructions to use the Circle tool.
Arc Draw arcs on a plane. Start by clicking to designate the two end points of
the line segment, then the amount of bend will follow your cursor. Click
again to release.
Push/Pull Convert 2D surfaces into 3D shapes by “pushing” and “pulling” surfaces
or in a direction perpendicular to the planes. Start by clicking a surface. The
Extrude extrusion will follow your cursor. Click to release and create solid. To
push/pull exact dimensions, click a surface and take your cursor in the
direction you would like to extrude, then type in “d” units.
Move Move objects by clicking and objects will follow your cursor. To move
objects to exact places, you can type in “d” units after clicking object and
taking the cursor to the direction you would like to move. Alternatively,
you can use the cursor to snap objects onto points of other objects.
Rotate Rotate objects. Start by clicking the center of rotation and a click again to
establish a zero degree line. The object will then rotate about the center as
a second angle line follows your cursor. Click again to release. To rotate

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exact dimensions, type in “r” in degrees and press “enter.”

Scale Scale objects. Place your cursor over an object and drag “handles” will
appear. Click and scale objects as necessary. Hold down “shift” to preserve
proportions. Hold down “control” or “option” on mac to scale about the
center of object. To scale objects to exact ratios, start by clicking a handle,
and entering in “r” for a ratio, then press “enter.”
Tape Use to draw guidelines to help with modeling. To draw an infinite
Measure construction line: Start by clicking an arbitrary point on a line (either from
axes or from object) and an infinite construction line parallel to the line
you clicked will follow your cursor. Click to release line or enter exact
distance away from line. To draw a guide segment and point: Start by
clicking an endpoint or corner and a guide line segment will follow your
cursor. Click to release or enter exact distance away from point to draw
guide segment. A guide point will then appear.
Eraser Use to erase lines, guidelines, or objects. Click and drag over lines to erase
and they will be deleted upon release.
Orbit Use to orbit around object you are creating. Use only if you do not have a
mouse. Otherwise, click the scroll wheel on the mouse to orbit.

Design 3D Model (Aryabhatta Block):

It will take some time to master SketchUp as with any new software. However, following
is a project to help you learn the tools and concepts covered in this document.

SketchUp models are fundamentally created by joining lines as the edges of the model. Faces are
automatically created when any three or more lines or edges are in the same plane (an infinite
flat 2D space), or coplanar, and form a closed loop. These edge and face combinations are
combined to create 3D models.
Creating Model
As Mentioned in the same section Figure 4 represents the layout of building and Figure 5
represents the layout of array. The dimensions of the following Figures are been used in creating
the 3D model.

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The dimensions are as follows

• Building Layout- 40x60x11.60 (m)
• Array Layout- 8.4x4.035 (m)
• Module Layout- 1.66x0.99 (m)
• Tank-2m(height),0.75m(radius)
Steps in Creating Model (Building)
1. Select the "Rectangle Tool". The cursor changes to a pencil with a rectangle
2. Click to set the first corner point of the rectangle.
3. Move the cursor diagonally.
4. Type "40, 60" and press the "Enter" (Microsoft Windows) key. Your dimensions appear
in the Measurements Toolbar and the rectangle will snap to 40 by 60 meters.
5. Zoom, orbit, and pan to such that your rectangle is large enough to push/pull with the
Push/Pull Tool.
6. Zoom, orbit, and pan to such that your rectangle is large enough to push/pull with the
Push/Pull Tool.
7. Select the offset tool and Click one of your selected line segments or the face you want to
offset. Move the cursor to define the offset dimension. Note that the distance of the offset
appears in the Measurements box. Offset dimensions are “10, 10” and then delete the
inner portion of Offset so that it becomes open to sky.
8. Select the "Push/Pull Tool". The cursor will change to a 3D rectangle with an up arrow.
9. Click on the rectangular face.
10. Move the cursor to create (or decrease) volume.
11. Type "11.60'" and press the "Enter" (Microsoft Windows) key. Your dimensions appear
in the Measurements Toolbar and the rectangle will expand up and snap to 11.60 meters.

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The 3D model of Building Layout is as follows

Figure 25: Building 3D Model

Steps in Creating Model (Solar Panels)
In the Similar manner Create Mounting Structures of solar panels using basic tools.
1. Select the "Rectangle Tool". The cursor changes to a pencil with a rectangle
2. Click to set the first corner point of the rectangle.
3. Move the cursor diagonally.
4. Type "8.4, 4.035" and press the "Enter" (Microsoft Windows) key. Your dimensions
appear in the Measurements Toolbar and the rectangle will snap to 8.4 by 4.035 meters.
5. Zoom, orbit, and pan to such that your rectangle is large enough to push/pull with the
Push/Pull Tool.
6. Now select the rotate tool and rotate the rectangle about 17°
7. Now go to Extension warehouse and install Skelion extension. After successfully
installing extension now we can insert solar panels on the rectangular surface which is
tilted at 17°
8. Select the rectangle surface and click on insert solar panels from skelion extension and
choose the tilt of panels and also check dimensions before installing solar panels. The
Model of solar panel doesn’t play an important role in SketchUp but dimesions does.

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The 3D model of Building with solar panels is as follows

Figure 26:3D model of Solar panels installed on Building

Steps in Creating Model (Tank)
1. Select the "Circle Tool". The cursor changes to a pencil with a circle.
2. Click to set the centre point of the circle.
3. Move the cursor diagonally.
4. Type "0.75" and press the "Enter" (Microsoft Windows) key. Your dimensions appear in
the Measurements Toolbar and the circle will snap to 0.75 meters.
5. Zoom, orbit, and pan to such that your rectangle is large enough to push/pull with the
Push/Pull Tool.
6. Select the "Push/Pull Tool". The cursor will change to a 3D rectangle with an up arrow.
7. Click on the circular face.
8. Move the cursor to create (or decrease) volume.
9. Type "2'" and press the "Enter" (Microsoft Windows) key. Your dimensions appear in the
Measurements Toolbar and the circle will expand up and snap to 2 meters.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Final Layout

Figure 27: Final layout

Exporting SketchUp Model to PVsyst and interfacing with it
To export 3D model from SketchUp
Go to File → Export → 3D Model →Save as type (COLLADA File) (*.dae) → Export

Figure 28: Exporting 3D Model as .dae file

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Interfacing with PVsyst:

To analyze shading effect in PVsyst we need a 3D model which resembles the particular
location. To define Shading Scene in PVsyst we need to Import *.dae file of SketchUp 3D
model.
To define shading scene following are the steps involved. Open PVsyst and follow the steps
mentioned in Using PVsyst a Brief Tutorial and then before simulating the project define Near
Shadings and then Run Simulation.

Defining Near Shadings

Click Near Shadings on the Project Dashboard

Figure 29: Project Dashboard (c)

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The following window appears click on Construction / Perspective.

Figure 30: Defining Near Shading

After Clicking Construction / Perspective the following screen appears where we need to import
3D Scene created in SketchUp.
To import *.dae file
Go to File → Import → Import a 3D Scene (3DS, DAE) → Select File → Open

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Figure 31: Importing Shading Scene

After importing 3D scene the following screen appears define PV objects.

Figure 32: Defining PV objects

Then the 3D model gets imported into PVsyst and it is ready to analyze shading effect. When it
is imported outline of 3D object is shown and to make it a solid object click Render.

Figure 33: Imported 3D Scene

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

To view shaded part of the panels,

Click Tools → shading animation → Play button

Figure 34: Viewing Shaded part of panel

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Chapter 6
SIMULATION RESULTS
Simulation results of a proposed photovoltaic system are analyzed in this section. The
results were obtained from the simulation model of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic system
modeled in PVsyst as per the project specifications and constraints. In this simulation, mainly
produced energy, performance ratio and losses were obtained. Obtained results were analyzed for
assessing the performance of the Si-poly photovoltaic system.
6.1 Simulation results of Fixed tilt system without shading effect (Detailed Report)

From the main simulation results, two main parameters were assessed. First parameter is
the total amount of energy produced from the 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic system on annual
basis which is referred as produced energy i.e. 32.233 MWh/year. Second parameter is the
annual average performance ratio (PR) is 78.4 %.

Balances and main results

Table 2: Balance and main results of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic fixed system

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Balances and main results shown in Table 2 includes the variables like global irradiance
on horizontal plane, ambient average temperature, global irradiance on collector plane without
any optical corrections, effective global irradiance considering soiling losses and shading losses.
Apart from these variables, DC energy produced by the Si-poly photovoltaic array, energy
injected into the grid considering the losses in electrical components, photovoltaic array and
system efficiency also computed. The computed values of each variable mentioned in balances
and main results were obtained in terms of monthly and yearly values. Yearly values of the
variables are possible as averages for temperature, efficiency and summation for irradiance and
energy. For the study location, using fixed tilt annual global irradiance on horizontal plane is
1949.6 kWh/m2 and the global incident energy on annual basis on the collector without optical
corrections and effective global irradiance after optical losses are 2056.3 kWh/m2 and
1994.5kWh/m2 respectively. With this effective irradiance, annual DC energy produced from the
PV array and annual AC energy injected to grid are 32.941 MWh and 32.233 MWh respectively.

Meteo and Incident Energy

Table 3: Meteo and Incident Energy of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic system

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Table 3 depicts the meteorological and incident energy of the PV system. The global horizontal
irradiation (GlobHor) is 1949.6kWh/m2/year. The horizontal diffuse irradiation (DiffHor) is
824.23kWh/m2/year. The overall global incident energy on the collector plane is
2056.3kWh/m2/year.
Detailed System Losses

Table 4: Detailed System Losses of 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic system

Table 4 depicts the detailed monthly average system losses in MWh. Module quality loss (Mod
Qual) is 0.513MWh/year. Module mismatch loss (MisLoss) is 0.371 MWh/year. Ohmic wiring
loss (Ohm Loss) is 0.392 MWh/ year. Array virtual energy at Maximum Power Point (MPP),
EArrMPP is 32.941 Wh/Year. Total Inverter loss is 0.707 MWh/year.
Normalized productions
Normalized productions such as collection losses, system losses and produced useful energy per
installed kWp/day were evaluated from the simulation study. These normalized productions are
defined by the IEC norms [27] and are standardized variables for assessing the PV system
performance. Lc is the Collection losses or the PV array capture losses i.e. 1.12 kWh/kWp/day.
Ls is the system loss i.e. 0.1 kWh/kWp/day and the Yf is the produced useful energy i.e.
4.42kWh/kWp/day. Figure 35 represent the normalized productions per installed kWp.

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Figure 35: Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Fixed Tilt)
Performance ratio
Performance ratio (PR) for the simulated 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic fixed tilt system is 78.4
%, which is the annual average PR value. There is small variation in PR value on monthly basis,
which can be seen in Fig. 36.

Figure 36: Performance ratio (Fixed Tilt)

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Loss Diagram
Loss diagram is obtained from the simulated studies, which help in analyzing the various losses
that are to be encountered while installing PV plant or constraints to be considered. Loss diagram
can be seen in Fig.37. This represents the various losses in the system. Global irradiance on
horizontal plane is 1950 kWh/ m2. But the effective irradiance on collector is 1994 kWh/m2. This
results in the loss of energy i.e. 0.4 % due to irradiance level. When this effective irradiance falls
on the surface of a photovoltaic module or array, electricity or electrical energy is produced.
After the PV conversion, array nominal energy at standard testing conditions (STC) is
39.87MWh. The efficiency of the PV array at STC is 15.03 %. Annual array virtual energy at
MPP is 32.94 MWh. The various losses occurs in this stage are 13.9 % losses due to temperature,
1.5 % loss due light induced degradation, 1.1 % loss due to module array mismatch and 1.2 % is
the Ohmic wiring losses. Available energy on annual basis at the inverter output facility is
32.23MWh and the same is injected to grid. Here one loss is inverter loss during inverter
operation i.e. 2.1 %.

Figure 37: Loss Diagram over the whole year for fixed tilt

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6.2 Simulation results of Single axis tracking system without shading effect
For the study location, using single axis tracking system annual global irradiance on
horizontal plane is 1949.6 kWh/m2 and the global incident energy on annual basis on the
collector without optical corrections and effective global irradiance after optical losses are
2185.7 kWh/m2 and 2124.1 kWh/m2 respectively. With this effective irradiance, annual DC
energy produced from the PV array and annual AC energy injected to grid are 34.869 MWh and
34.124 MWh respectively.

Table 5: Balance and main results of 20 kWp single axis tracking system

Normalized productions
Normalized productions such as collection losses, system losses and produced useful energy per
installed kWp/day were evaluated from the simulation study. These normalized productions are
defined by the IEC norms [27] and are standardized variables for assessing the PV system
performance. Lc is the Collection losses or the PV array capture losses i.e. 1.21 kWh/kWp/day.
Ls is the system loss i.e. 0.1 kWh/kWp/day and the Yf is the produced useful energy i.e.
4.67kWh/kWp/day. Figure 38 represent the normalized productions per installed kWp.

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Figure 38: Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Single axis Tracking)
Performance ratio
Performance ratio (PR) for the simulated 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic singel axis tracking
system is 78.1 %, which is the annual average PR value. There is small variation in PR value on
monthly basis, which can be seen in Fig. 39.

Figure 39: Performance ratio (Single axis tracking system)

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Loss Diagram

Figure 40: Loss Diagram over the whole year for single axis tracking system

Fig.40 represents the overall system loss diagram. The horizontal global irradiation is
1950kWh/m2.The effective irradiation on the collector plane is 2124 kWh/m2.Then the PV cell
convert solar energy into electrical energy. After PV conversion, array nominal energy is
42.47MWh.The efficiency of PV array is 15.03% at Standard Test Condition (STC). Array
virtual energy obtained is 34.87 MWh. After the inverter loss, the available energy at the inverter
output is 34.12 MWh. So the energy injected into the grid is 34.12 MWh.

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6.3 Simulation results of Dual axis tracking system without shading effect
For the study location, using dual axis tracking system annual global irradiance on
horizontal plane is 1949.6 kWh/m2 and the global incident energy on annual basis on the
collector without optical corrections and effective global irradiance after optical losses are
2668.4 kWh/m2 and 2625.8 kWh/m2 respectively. With this effective irradiance, annual DC
energy produced from the PV array and annual AC energy injected to grid are 42.201 MWh and
41.298 MWh respectively.

Table 6: Balance and main results of 20 kWp dual axis tracking system

Normalized productions
Normalized productions such as collection losses, system losses and produced useful energy per
installed kWp/day were evaluated from the simulation study. These normalized productions are
defined by the IEC norms [27] and are standardized variables for assessing the PV system
performance. Lc is the Collection losses or the PV array capture losses i.e. 1.53 kWh/kWp/day.
Ls is the system loss i.e. 0.12 kWh/kWp/day and the Yf is the produced useful energy i.e.
5.66kWh/kWp/day. Figure 41 represent the normalized productions per installed kWp.

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Figure 41: Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Dual axis tracking system)

Performance ratio
Performance ratio (PR) for the simulated 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic dual axis tracking system
is 77.4 %, which is the annual average PR value. There is small variation in PR value on monthly
basis, which can be seen in Fig. 42.

Figure 42: Performance ratio (Dual axis tracking system)

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Loss Diagram

Figure 43: Loss Diagram over the whole year for dual axis tracking system

Fig.43 represents the overall system loss diagram. The horizontal global irradiation is
1950kWh/m2.The effective irradiation on the collector plane is 2626 kWh/m2.Then the PV cell
convert solar energy into electrical energy. After PV conversion, array nominal energy is
52.50MWh.The efficiency of PV array is 15.03% at Standard Test Condition (STC). Array
virtual energy obtained is 42.20 MWh. After the inverter loss, the available energy at the inverter
output is 41.30 MWh. So the energy injected into the grid is 41.30 MWh.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

6.4 Simulation results of Fixed tilt system with shading effect

For the study location, using fixed tilt annual global irradiance on horizontal plane is
1949.6 kWh/m2 and the global incident energy on annual basis on the collector without optical
corrections and effective global irradiance after optical losses are 2056.3 kWh/m2 and
1969.4kWh/m2 respectively. With this effective irradiance, annual DC energy produced from the
PV array and annual AC energy injected to grid are 32.563 MWh and 31.863 MWh respectively.

Table 7: Balance and main results of 20 kWp fixed tilt system with shading

Normalized productions
Normalized productions such as collection losses, system losses and produced useful energy per
installed kWp/day were evaluated from the simulation study. These normalized productions are
defined by the IEC norms [27] and are standardized variables for assessing the PV system
performance. Lc is the Collection losses or the PV array capture losses i.e. 1.17 kWh/kWp/day.
Ls is the system loss i.e. 0.1 kWh/kWp/day and the Yf is the produced useful energy i.e.
4.36kWh/kWp/day. Figure 44 represent the normalized productions per installed kWp.

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Figure 44: Normalized energy productions per installed kWp (Fixed tilt with shading)

Performance ratio
Performance ratio (PR) for the simulated 20 kWp Si-poly photovoltaic fixed tilt system with
shading is 77.5 %, which is the annual average PR value. There is small variation in PR value on
monthly basis, which can be seen in Fig. 45.

Figure 45: Performance ratio (Fixed tilt system with shading)

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Loss Diagram

Figure 46: Loss Diagram over the whole year for fixed tilt system with shading

Loss diagram is obtained from the simulated studies, which help in analyzing the various losses
that are to be encountered while installing PV plant or constraints to be considered. Loss diagram
can be seen in Fig.46. This represents the various losses in the system. Global irradiance on
horizontal plane is 1950 kWh/ m2. But the effective irradiance on collector is 1969 kWh/m2
including losses due to near shadings, IAM. Near shading loss was 1.3%. This results in the loss
of energy i.e. 0.4 % due to irradiance level. When this effective irradiance falls on the surface of
a photovoltaic module or array, electricity or electrical energy is produced. After the PV
conversion, array nominal energy at standard testing conditions (STC) is 39.37MWh. The
efficiency of the PV array at STC is 15.03 %. Annual array virtual energy at MPP is 32.56 MWh.

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

The various losses occurs in this stage are 13.8 % losses due to temperature, 1.5 % loss due light
induced degradation, 1.1 % loss due to module array mismatch and 1.2 % is the Ohmic wiring
losses. Available energy on annual basis at the inverter output facility is 31.86MWh and the
same is injected to grid. Here one loss is inverter loss during inverter operation i.e. 2.1 %.

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Chapter 7
RESULT ANALYSIS
7.1 Comparison of Simulated data between Fixed and Single Axis tracking system

Table 8: Output generated for fixed and single axis tracking system without shading

E_Grid (MWh)
Type of the System Tilt
Output
Fixed 17° 32.23
Single Axis Tracking Seasonal Adjustment 2°,32° 32.34
Single Axis Tracking E-W Optimal variant 2°,32° 33.64
Single Axis Tracking E-W Latitude variant -7°,41° 33.97
Single Axis Tracking E-W Best variant -60°,60° 34.12

Output generated for fixed and single axis tracking system without
shading

34.5
34
33.5
33
32.5
32 E_Grid (MWh)
Output
31.5
31
Fixed Single Axis Single Axis Single Axis Single Axis
Tracking Tracking E-W Tracking E-W Tracking E-W
Seasonal Optimal Latitude Best variant
Adjustment variant variant

Figure 47: Output generated for fixed and single axis tracking system

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Table 9: Variation of incident radiations and losses

Global incident in Loss due to Loss due to Loss due to

Type of the System
collector plane (%) IAM factor (%) irradiance (%) temperature (%)
Fixed +5.5 -2.9 -0.4 -13.9
Single Axis Tracking
+5.9 -3.0 -0.4 -13.8
Seasonal Adjustment
Single Axis Tracking E-W
+10.4 -2.7 -0.3 -14.3
Optimal variant
Single Axis Tracking E-W
+11.6 -2.7 -0.3 -14.4
Latitude variant
Single Axis Tracking E-W
+12.1 -2.8 -0.3 -14.4
Best variant

Average Global Horizontal Irradiation is 1949.6 kWh/m2/year.

Incident radiation and Losses variation of fixed and single axis tracking
system
16
14
12 Global incident in collector
10 plane
8 Loss due to IAM factor (%)
6
4
Loss due to irradiance (%)
2
0
Fixed Single Axis Single Axis Single Axis Single Axis Loss due to temperature (%)
Tracking Tracking E-W Tracking E-W Tracking E-W
Seasonal Optimal Latitude Best variant
Adjustment variant variant

Figure 48: Incident radiation and Losses variations

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7.2 Comparison of Simulated data for Dual tracking system based on azimuth angle and
tilt angle

Table 10: Output Generated for Dual Axis Tracking with different variations

E_Grid (MWh)
Type of the System (Dual Axis Tracking) Tilt Azimuth
Output
Fixed Tilt 17°,17° -120°,120° 36.28
Optimal Tilt Azimuth 90° 2°,32° -90°,90° 39.16
Optimal Tilt Azimuth Maximum 2°,32° -120°,120° 39.23
Optimal Tilt Azimuth 180° 2°,32° -180°,180° 39.23
Earth Tilt Azimuth Maximum -7°,41° -120°,120° 40.24
Dual Axis Tracking E-W -60°,45° -60°,60°(phi limits) 41.30

Output Generated for Dual Axis Tracking with different variations

42
41
40
39
38
37
36 E_Grid (MWh)
35 Output
34
33
Fixed Tilt Optimal Optimal Optimal Earth Tilt Dual Axis
Tilt Tilt Tilt Azimuth Tracking E-
Azimuth Azimuth Azimuth Maximum W
90° Maximum 180°

Figure 49: Output generated for dual axis tracking system with different orientations

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Table 11: Variation of incident radiations and losses of Dual axis tracking system

Type of the System (Dual Global incident in Loss due to IAM Loss due to Loss due to
Axis Tracking) collector plane (%) factor (%) irradiance (%) temperature (%)

Fixed Tilt +19.0 -2.3 -0.2 -14.7

Optimal Tilt Azimuth 90° +29.4 -1.9 -0.2 -15.6

Optimal Tilt Azimuth

+29.6 -1.9 -0.2 -15.6
Maximum
Optimal Tilt Azimuth
+29.6 -1.9 -0.2 -15.6
180°
Earth Tilt Azimuth
+33.3 -1.8 -0.2 -15.9
Maximum

Dual Axis Tracking E-W +36.9 -1.6 -0.1 -16.2

Average Global Horizontal Irradiation is 1949.6 kWh/m2/year

Incident radiation and Losses variation of fixed and single axis tracking
system
40
35
30
25
Global incident in collector
20 plane (%)
15 Loss due to IAM factor (%)
10
5 Loss due to temperature (%)

0
Fixed Tilt Optimal Optimal Optimal Earth Tilt Dual Axis
Tilt Tilt Tilt Azimuth Tracking
Azimuth Azimuth Azimuth Maximum E-W
90° Maximum 180°

Figure 50: Incident radiation and Losses variations

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

7.3 Comparison of practical data with simulated data of fixed system with and without
shading

Table 12: Energy injected into grid and performance ratio

Simulated data Simulated data 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

without shading with shading
Month E-grid PR E-grid PR E-grid PR E-grid PR E-grid PR E-grid PR E-grid PR
(MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh)
Jan 2.889 0.796 2.860 0.788 2.662 0.733 2.851 0.785 2.760 0.760 2.869 0.790 2.754 0.759
Feb 2.910 0.778 2.886 0.771 2.712 0.725 2.899 0.775 2.766 0.740 2.862 0.765 2.507 0.670
Mar 3.090 0.765 3.061 0.758 2.739 0.678 2.892 0.716 2.869 0.710 3.135 0.776 2.493 0.617
Apr 3.012 0.754 2.984 0.747 2.797 0.700 2.898 0.725 2.955 0.739 2.903 0.726 2.566 0.642
May 2.929 0.756 2.898 0.748 2.803 0.724 2.891 0.746 2.791 0.720 2.731 0.705 2.522 0.651
Jun 2.350 0.793 2.313 0.780 2.573 0.868 2.064 0.696 1.958 0.661 1.919 0.647 2.118 0.715
Jul 2.073 0.801 2.038 0.787 1.669 0.645 2.224 0.859 1.771 0.684 2.028 0.784 1.646 0.636
Aug 2.145 0.808 2.109 0.794 2.276 0.857 2.123 0.799 2.039 0.768 1.883 0.709 1.694 0.638
Sep 2.519 0.793 2.488 0.783 2.395 0.754 0.763 0.240 1.706 0.537 2.175 0.684 1.631 0.513
Oct 2.837 0.790 2.806 0.781 2.675 0.744 2.672 0.743 2.753 0.766 2.502 0.696 1.928 0.536
Nov 2.623 0.795 2.595 0.786 2.666 0.808 2.493 0.755 2.837 0.860 2.672 0.810 2.532 0.767
Dec 2.855 0.801 2.822 0.791 2.687 0.754 2.782 0.780 2.776 0.778 2.669 0.748 2.226 0.624
Year 32.231 0.784 31.861 0.775 30.654 0.745 29.552 0.719 29.981 0.729 30.348 0.738 26.617 0.647

Output generated for practical and simulated data

3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Simulated data without shading E-grid (MWh) Simulated data with shading E-grid (MWh)
2014 E-grid (MWh) 2015 E-grid (MWh)
2016 E-grid (MWh) 2017 E-grid (MWh)
2018 E-grid (MWh)

Figure 51: Energy injected into grid for practical and simulated data (Monthly)

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Output generated for practical and simulated data

35
30
25
20
15
10
Output (MWh)
5
0
Simulated Simulated 2014 E- 2015 E- 2016 E- 2017 E- 2018 E-
data data with grid grid grid grid grid
without shading E- (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh) (MWh)
shading E- grid
grid (MWh)
(MWh)

Figure 52: Energy injected into grid for practical and simulated data (Yearly)

Performance Ratio (PR) Analysis

Performance ratio of simulated and practical data

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Simulated data without shading (PR) Simulated data with shading 2014 (PR)
2015 (PR) 2016 (PR) 2017 (PR)
2018 (PR)

Figure 53: Performance ratio of simulated and practical data (Monthly)

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Performance ratio of simulated and practical data

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
Performance Ratio
0.2
0.1
0
Simulated Simulated 2014 (PR) 2015 (PR) 2016 (PR) 2017 (PR) 2018 (PR)
data data with
without shading
shading (PR)
(PR)

Figure 54: Performance ratio of simulated and practical data (Yearly)

Shading Losses using Sun path diagram

Figure 55: Sun Path diagram representing shading losses

B V Raju Institute of Technology (UGC-Autonomous)

Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Chapter 8

CONCLUSIONS

8.1 CONCLUSIONS

A detailed methodology to design and simulate a photovoltaic system using PVsyst software is
presented in this paper. It is concluded that design of a PV system is entirely location dependent.
In this paper, we had compared different panel orientations that will maximize power generation
through tracking the sun. In this study performance of a 20 kWp photovoltaic system single and
dual axis tracker systems are compared with fixed tilt system with identical parameters. The
annual electricity yield is 32.23MWh for fixed tilt system, 34.12 MWh for single axis tracker
system and 41.30 MWh for dual axis tracker system. The single axis horizontal EW tracker
generates 5.8% more energy than a fixed tilt system with same specifications, while a dual axis
horizontal EW tracker system generates 21% more energy than single axis tracker system and
28.1% more energy than fixed tilt system. We have also compared fixed tilt system with and
without shading, and it was observed that fixed tilt system without shading generates 1.6% more
energy than a fixed tilt system with shading. Energy production of practical data and simulated
data with shading was compared and was observed that there was 3.78% decrease in year 2014,
7.2% decrease in year 2015, 5.9% decrease in year 2016, 4.7% decrease in year 2017 and
16.45% decrease in year 2018.This energy decrease is due to many factors like uncertainty in
climatic conditions, wiring losses, soiling losses, module degradation etc., Performance ratio is
very important parameter for evaluating the system performance. Performance ratio of the
system over the whole year is estimated as 0.775 which is satisfactory.

8.2 Future Scope:

Further, the study can be carried out using different PV module technologies with appropriate
installation methods for improving the performance. The monitored data and operating
experience of PV system can be applied for future large scale projects. Further, the study can be
carried out using different tracking systems with shading effect.

B V Raju Institute of Technology (UGC-Autonomous)

Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Appendices
Appendix A
Solar Panel Tilt Analysis

To get the most from solar panels, you need to point them in the direction that captures the most
sun. But there are a number of variables in figuring out the best direction. Output of solar PV
system depends on amount of irradiance fall on PV module. We can increase the output of the
system by changing the orientation of PV module because angle of sun radiation will change
time to time. Solar panels need the maximum amount of sunlight to produce the maximum
amount of solar power. They need to be pointed in the direction that captures the most amount of
sunlight. Solar panels should always face true south if you are in the northern hemisphere, or true
north if you are in the southern hemisphere. Most homeowners with solar energy
systems mount their panels in a fixed position, where the panels can be manually tilted as needed
(for example, they can be adjusted seasonally). Books and articles on solar energy often give the
advice that the tilt should be equal to your latitude, plus 15 degrees in winter or minus 15 degrees
in summer. This is quick and an easy way to adjust angles seasonally [35].

Figure 56: Sun path during different months

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

The Better Way (winter)

In the winter months, when there's less sun, take your latitude, multiply it by 0.9, and then add 29
degrees.For example: if your latitude is 40 degrees, the angle you want to tilt your panels in the
winter is: (40 * 0.9) + 29 = 65 degrees.This is about 10 degrees steeper than the "quick and easy"
way! It's also more effective, because you want your panels to be directly facing the sun at mid-
day during those short winter days [36].

The Better Way (summer)

Take your latitude, multiply it by 0.9, and subtract 23.5 degrees. For example: if your latitude is
40 degrees, your panels should be tilted at: (40 * 0.9) - 23.5 = 12.5 degrees [36].

The Better Way (Spring & Fall)

Take your latitude and subtract 2.5 degrees. For example: if your latitude is 40 degrees, the best
tilt for your panels in the spring & fall is: 40 - 2.5 = 37.5 degrees [36].

B V Raju Institute of Technology (UGC-Autonomous)

Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Appendix B

Degradation of solar panels

The ability to accurately predict power delivery over the course of time is of vital importance to
the growth of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. Two key cost drivers are the efficiency with which
sunlight is converted into power and how this relationship changes over time. An accurate
quantification of power decline over time, also known as degradation rate, is essential to all
stakeholders-utility companies, integrators, investors, and researchers alike. Financially,
degradation of a PV module or system is equally important, because a higher degradation rate
translates directly into less power produced and, therefore, reduces future cash flows [37].
Furthermore, inaccuracies in determined degradation rates lead directly to increased financial
risk [33]. Technically, degradation mechanisms are important to understand because they may
eventually lead to failure [39]. A history of degradation rates using field tests reported in the
literature during the last 40 years has been summarized. Nearly 2000 degradation rates, measured
on individual modules or entire systems, have been assembled from the literature and show a
mean degradation rate of 0·8%/year and a median value of 0·5%/year. The majority, 78% of all
data, reported a degradation rate of <1%/year. In their first year of operation, panels generally
undergo short-term degradation ranging from less than 1% to 3% [40].

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

Appendix C

Table 13: Location Details

Name of the Site BVRITN

Latitude 17.72°N

Longitude 78.25°E

Altitude 540m
Azimuth 0°

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Design and Simulation of 20KW Solar PV System with Different Orientations Using PVSYST and SketchUp Dept. of EEE

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