Analytical review of types of energy losses at photovoltaic power plants

Introduction. When supplying energy to agricultural facilities, for any energy source it is important to ensure high efficiency of electrical energy generation by photovoltaic power plants and take into account all the factors that influence it.
The purpose of the study is to analyze, systematize and evaluate the factors influencing the utilization level of the solar energy potential when converting solar energy into electrical energy at a photovoltaic power plant.
Object of study. Operating private photovoltaic power plants in the Krasnodar Territory.
Materials and methods. The paper uses theoretical research methods: literature overview, operating experience of photovoltaic power plants, systematization of the background.
Results and conclusions. A photovoltaic power plant has efficiency factor of 15-18%, and additional power losses caused by both suboptimal engineering solutions and inefficient operation of the power plant lead to a significant decrease in this indicator. Energy losses in a photovoltaic plant are divided into solar and electrical energy losses. Solar energy losses include losses from shading, losses from suboptimal spatial orientation of the module, losses from degradation, heating, low efficiency of photovoltaic modules and inconsistent operation of photovoltaic groups. Losses from shading, in turn, are divided into losses from near and far shading, mutual shading of photovoltaic chains, and from pollution. Electrical losses in photovoltaic plants include losses in cables, inverters, transformers and transmission lines. These losses can also be divided conditionally into losses in the direct current circuit, alternating current circuit and losses when converting direct current to alternating current. Losses in conductors and transformers are divided into structural and variable, depending on the load. Electrical losses can be reduced during the design phase of a photovoltaic plant by selecting devices with high performance and by selecting the power of the devices to ensure their optimal loading. For the Krasnodar Territory, energy losses at a photovoltaic power plant can be 10-75 kW•h/m²•year for each type of loss. The analysis of the efficiency of existing private photovoltaic power plants in the Krasnodar Territory showed that due to non-optimal spatial orientation and mutual shading of photovoltaic chains, the installed capacity utilization factor can be reduced to 5-11%.

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