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Photovoltaic Productivity Simulator

A simulator for photovoltaic productivity has been created. The pvlib open source library is used to simulate the productivity of a photovoltaic generator. More information about the library can be found in the pvlib documentation.

The main inputs of the simulator are:

  • Location.
  • Capacity of the photovoltaic generator.
  • Yearly derating factor.

A typical meteorological year (TMY) is extracted from PVGIS datasets. The simulator currently uses the Europe/Rome timezone as DatetimeIndex for the data. The following photovoltaic module and inverter are selected to simulate the basic 1 kWp photovoltaic generator:

  • Module: Shell_Solar_SM100_24__2003__E__.
  • Inverter: Enphase_Energy_Inc___M175_24_208_Sxx__208V_.

The possibility of setting different types of modules and inverters will be developed later. Currently, only fixed mount systems are modelled.

The first step of the simulator creates a productivity profile for a 1 kWp generator. The productivity profile is then scaled with the capacity of the generator and derated over the years with a typical derating factor. This parameter can be changed in the config.yml file.

The flow chart of the photovoltaic productivity simulator is shown in the following figure.

Photovoltaic profile generator scheme

A notebook file is available to run a standalone simulation for a photovoltaic generator:

  • Photovoltaic_productivity_simulator_with_tutorial.ipynb.

In this notebook the user must specify:

  • Location.
  • Number of years of the simulation.
  • Capacity.
  • Tilt angle.
  • Azimuth angle.
  • Derating factor.
  • Directory to save the CSV file with results.

Warning

In the CACER simulation, using CACER_simulator.ipynb, the inputs for the simulation of photovoltaic productivity are set in a different way through the users CACER.xlsx file.