Most Probable Operating Conditions and Performance Assessment of Four PV Technologies at 10 Locations in India
Abstract
The revised target of 100 GW of solar energy by 2022, under National Solar Mission has opened up new challenges in resource assessment, grid balancing, geographical distribution of these solar power plants and power forecasting for solar grid integration in India. As the performance of fixed photovoltaic (PV) modules is site specific and largely depends on the climatic parameters, such as, solar radiation temperature and other meteorological conditions. The present study is aimed to have a comparison of prevalent conditions, in terms of distribution of solar radiation and ambient temperature based on actual ground measurement data at 10 locations representing the different climatic zones in India. Consequently, in this study performance of four commercially available PV technologies are also assessed and compared with respect to annual energy generation and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) in the selected 10 locations. The study will be helpfull to project developers and policy planners for better deployment of solar energy in India and to promote solar energy in total energy mix in India. Keywords: Photovoltaics, Insolation, Irradiance, Annual energy generation, Temperature