Performance improvisation of 10kWp grid connected solar photovoltaic system - a case study

Renewable energy sources like solar, wind and biogas are finding its importance in today’s world to reduce the carbon emissions from conventional sources. Photovoltaic (PV) arrays with solar cells have been integrated to convert light energy into DC electrical voltage. The output is fed to inverters and step-up transformers to get the required AC voltage reliable to be interfaced with grid. The optimal working and survival of the plant is based on the performance ratio obtained irrespective of varying climatic conditions. In this paper, a 10kWP grid connected plant existing in SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, India is considered, and various performance indicators is used to analyse its performance. A data logger was designed to track and process the real time data instantaneously obtained from temperature and irradiance sensor, inverter and energy meter and is connected to a router through LAN. Performance analysis is performed by calculating different ratios based on the retrieved data. In addition, a modified hardware model for 10kWP plant was also implemented to improve the performance ratio of the plant. The result analysis shows that the proposed modified hardware model has helped in increasing the performance ratio from 43% to 85%.