Dicle Üniversitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi Mühendislik Dergisi

Abstract

The world primary energy demand is increasing
day by day. Energy supply safety issue is an
important agenda in the world as our country.
79% of energy demand in the world is gained
from fossil fuels. On the other hand fossil fuels
damage environment and results of this damage
will be seen only in the future. So clean energy
began take place of this energy resources
slowly. At the Paris Climate Conference in
December 2015, 195 countries adopted first
ever universal legally binding global climate
deal. The agreement sets out a global action
plan to put the world on track to avoid
dangerous climate change by limiting global
warming to well below 20
C. In order to use
achieve this goal use of renewable energy have
to be increased because renewable energy
resources are crucial key to achieve the goal of
meeting energy demand that is growing with
advancement in technology. The sun is probably
the most important source of renewable energy
available today. Solar electricity generation
represents a clean alternative to electricity from
fossil fuels with no air and water pollution no
global warming pollution and no threats public
health.
After amendments in regulation of unlicensed
electricity production in Turkey installation of
photovoltaic systems and solar power plants
increased rapidly. One of these solar power
plants was established in Dicle University
Engineering Faculty at November 2015. This
solar power plant has 250 kWp installed
capacity and its production data has been
recorded since December 2015.
Simulation programs are significant tools for
design and analysis of photovoltaic systems.
PVsyst simulation software is a widely used
program for PV systems. PVsyst simulation
program has some advanced tools for analysis
and design. In this study, Dicle University Solar
Power Plant is simulated by PVsyst program.
Simulation results were analysed according to
IEC 61724 standards which defines the
photovoltaic solar power plant performance
evaluations.
From the analysis of simulation results it was
seen that, reference yield, and final yield
reached its maximum value in August. This
situation arises due to highest radiation ratio in
August. Although maximum radiation values
have been seen in August minimum performance
was gained at the same time. This was resulted
from the decrease of the panel efficiency due to
high temperature.
The PVSyst simulated annual energy
production of Dicle University Solar Power
Plant is 380.6 MWh per year. The comparison
of the simulation results with the measured
production value of the plant has showed that,
there was a diversion between results of the
simulation and measured data in December and
January. In February, March and April there
was a maximum 10% between simulation and
measured values divergence. In all periods,
measured values were higher than simulation
values except January. This may occur because
of the fact that, efficiency of the PV panels is
maximum in first year of installation.
Developers and designers require the tools
for evaluating solar power plant’s performance.
The annual performance calculated by the
PVsyst has been validated against actual
operating data from Dicle University Solar
Power Plant. These results will be important for
design criteria in South-eastern Anatolia Region
of Turkey.