Performance study of a real photovoltaic power station under desert conditions: case study

Abstract

This work focuses on studying and analyzing the photovoltaic power plant of Oued Nechou located in the South of Algeria, in order to create its simulation model. This later can estimate its power production. To achieve this, all system parameters were introduced in the model according to the real data. Then, the characteristics of the photovoltaic panels were tested and plotted under different temperature and irradiation values to understand their influences on the electrical performances. In order to ensure the maximum energy production, photovoltaic panels were associated with converters controlled by a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. Two different thin- film technologies of the PV panels (Amorphous silicon (a-Si) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) technologies) were simulated and tested under standard test conditions (STC) and compared with the real characteristics. The results show good accuracy. Subsequently, the real data of four seasons of the same year were introduced in the created model of Oued Nechou station. The obtained results of the simulation show that the performance of the produced energy is affected by the desert climatic conditions, especially the temperature and the solar radiation. However, the positive solar effect is higher than the negative thermal effect, which encourages investment by installing other photovoltaic stations in these areas known by the high and long duration of irradiance.