This is the second part of the paper “Simplified method for shading-loss analysis in BIPV systems”. The objective of Part 2 is to apply the simplified method described in Part 1 in order to estimate the influence of partial shadings on the performance of four installed and in operation BIPV systems. The method consists in identifying and quantifying the shading on a surface, relating the fraction of shaded area with the percentage of incident irradiation reduction during the same period, in order to propose a shading index (SI) that represents the energy losses on partially shaded PV systems. SI was validated through the analysed case studies and it was proved to be a convenient way of estimating the PV generation of partially shaded PV systems. This method is independent from the electric configuration and can be used for already installed PV systems, or surfaces under investigation for PV installations, both through manual calculations and also through calculations using dedicated software packages.

This paper proposes a simplified method to determine an index to quantify the influence of partial shadings on the performance of BIPV systems based on the relation between the shading percentages and the reduction of the incident irradiation on a given surface. The research is divided in two papers: Part 1: Theoretical study and Part 2: Application in case studies. Part 1 consists in identifying and quantifying the shading on a surface, and relates the fraction of shaded area with the percentage of incident irradiation reduction during the same period, in order to propose a shading index (SI) that represents the energy losses due to shadings on PV systems. The method was developed for a theoretical shaded case study simulated in two cities located at low latitude, tropical regions: Singapore (1.35°N) and Florianópolis-Brazil (27.48°S). Results showed that the shading percentage on the analysed surface on an annual basis is closer to the percentage of incident irradiation reduction at same period than when these values are compared on other time bases, as hourly, daily or monthly. Therefore, in this case, the annual percentage of shading can be adopted as the SI. SI was validated using different computer software packages and it was proved to be a convenient way of estimation the PV generation of similar cases of partially shaded PV systems, that could be used even before the PV electrical desing has been done.

This work presents a method to evaluate, from the distribution utility's perspective, the impacts of adopting Domestic Solar Water Heating (DSWH) systems in Brazil, based on demand measurements carried out on two groups of residential households. For the 12 months period evaluated, the case-study shows that using DSWH results in savings of 198 kWh (38%), and active power demand savings at peak times of 860 W (42%) per individual unit. For the distribution utility and per individual unit, using DSWH leads to avoided costs of $ 27.59 (38%), avoided costs due to peak time demand reduction of $ 170.2 (42%), and annual avoided costs of $ 197.79 (41%). This work clearly shows that in the residential section the tariff model and structure is strongly distorted, since it only accounts for the energy consumption per residential unit, and completely disregards the costs associated with power demand availability. Our results show that in Brazil the distribution utility charges only some 15% of the real cost of a hot shower based on electric showerheads.

Rooftop residential photovoltaic (PV) generation is becoming more widespread among homeowners. A proper PV system design is crucial in order to avoid annual electricity production in excess of residential demand in countries where a net metering scheme is in place like in Brazil. It is therefore important that the information related to the average solar irradiation incident on the solar modules is accurately assessed, allowing precise estimates of photovoltaic electricity production. This work defines the criteria for the proper choice of a freely available irradiation database for the Brazilian territory and compares the results with the PVsyst-Meteonorm, a well-known modeling system. We demonstrate that, for Brazil, the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) information provided by Openei-SWERA series is the best fit to different locations in the Brazilian territory, after introducing the corrections made by the horizontal to the plane-of-array transposition algorithms.

A great challenge and trend for sustainable buildings is to reduce electricity consumption, and at the same time try to supply their own energy demand with self-generation. The project should be development focused on sustainability, explore the passive strategies and the energy generation potential of façades and roof. In this paper we analyze for the first time in Brazil and under current solar photovoltaic (PV) module prices, the technical and economic potential of integrating state-of-the-art, frameless, glass-glass thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV modules on a commercial building façade and roof, and evaluate the economic feasibility of replacing traditional façade materials like architectural glass and aluminum composite material with sleek black PV modules in six Brazilian cities. The technical analysis consisted in evaluating the energy performance of a four-storey office building for each of the six cities under analysis. The technical analysis showed that it is possible to fully meet the energy demand of the office building with PV integration in all the Brazilian cities evaluated. While the local climate has a significant impact on the energy consumption due mostly to air conditioning loads, PV energy production follows the same trend. Most importantly, the economic analysis showed that with the declining costs of photovoltaics, replacing conventional façade building materials with PV modules is not only an innovative approach but also of economic benefit.

To obtain significant increases in the Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of solar cells, we argue that the substitution of the state-of-the-art one- and two-dimensional cell optimizations, by the simultaneous improvement of multiple material properties is of substantial advantage. In this context, researchers should know, which combined material properties and cell design parameters result in the highest efficiency increase. For the same objective, it is also of importance to know, which ideal relationships in-between these variables have to be adjusted. Such knowledge becomes available by simulations and numerical optimizations, which we present for a Perovskite Solar Cell (PSC) in a hypercube space of model variables. We prove that its PCE increases principally because of the nonlinearities inherent to its mathematical model, and therefore, we elucidate the importance of the multidimensional variable improvements in the PSC’s optimization. We increased the PCE to a value of at least 27.6% by simultaneous improvements of the cell’s material properties, and light trapping, for a large range of absorber layer thicknesses, from t₀ = 160 to 400 nm. The lower thickness results in a significant reduction of the device’s Pb content.

This paper presents an analysis of spectral impacts on mc-Si and new generation CdTe in two distinct regions of Brazil: Florianópolis-SC (27°S, 48°W) in the South, and Assu-RN (5°S, 37°W) in the Northeast. As utility-scale PV power plants are progressively being deployed in the Brazilian Northeast, the need for evaluation of the spectral effects of local blue-biased spectra on the energy yield of different PV technologies arises, as well as the need for spectral correction of field peak-power measurements done during commissioning and system performance tests. Considering the high cost of adequate spectral measurement equipment, this paper proposes a new approach for the estimation of spectral impacts without the need for in loco measurements. The proposed methodology consists of the use of satellite data acquired from NASA's Giovanni platform as inputs for the SMARTS 2.9.5 spectra model. Results for measured spectra showed that, for both locations, new generation CdTe (i.e. First Solar Series 4 and 6) has significant spectral gains: up to 10% for Assu-RN (Northeastern Brazil) and 2% for Florianópolis-SC (Southern Brazil). A seasonal variation could also be detected for the Florianópolis site, with lower spectral gains for CdTe - and higher for mc-Si - close to the Southern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, due to higher air mass values and lower precipitable water content of the atmosphere. The proposed method using Giovanni data and SMARTS spectra modeling produced very similar spectra to those measured for clear days in the field at both sites, yielding good results for the calculation of spectral factors for both mc-Si and CdTe. For days with a higher diffuse fraction the results were not as satisfactory, as expected. The proposed method was also applied to instantaneous measurements for three different times (and AM values) of the day for Florianópolis: 9:00, 12:00 and 15:00, yielding satisfactory results for IV curve spectral correction.

In contrast to the decades-long accumulated experience of photovoltaic (PV) installations in more temperate climates, the effects of some extreme operating temperatures and extreme solar irradiance levels start to become more noticeable with the uptake of large-scale PV in the sunbelt regions of the world. One such effect is caused by extreme solar overirradiance events, which up to now have been reported in the literature much more for their scientific interest than as a potential problem affecting the operational performance of PV power plants. Solar overirradiance events with a time span of tens of seconds or minutes are associated with the high operating temperatures prevailing in the field at many sites where utility-scale PV power plants start to become widespread, deleterious effects can be observed, which will negatively impact the performance of these generators. Using irradiance data from seven solar measuring stations deployed over distinct regions in Brazil, many of which are hosting megawatt-scale PV power plants, this paper reports on several extreme solar overirradiance events, with measured values above 1367 W/m² up to 1845 W/m², lasting from many seconds to a few minutes. Analysis of impacts and consequences from these events on the operational performance of PV generators are addressed, mainly focused on combiner box fuses, inverter overload losses, and inverter maximum power point tracker.

This study is aimed at performing and analyzing the inverter sizing optimization process for large-scale grid-connected solar photovoltaics (PV). The local solar resource was evaluated and compared to the available satellite data. Analyses of the solar irradiance distribution and its potential effects on inverter sizing were performed. The performance of five different, commercially-available PV module technologies was also evaluated by means of remote data analysis of irradiation and temperature, as well as electrical parameters. This was performed using the metrics of energy yield and performance ratio (PR) for PV systems. A methodology was developed for estimating the optimal inverter sizing in the region considering overload losses and economic aspects, aiming at the optimization and cost reduction of PV-generated electricity. Considering the five technologies, the mean yield was 150 kWh/kWp on a monthly basis. The annual PR ranged from 77% to 85% depending on technology. The local solar resource, measured during three years, was compared to five distinct satellite-derived solar databases. Cloud enhancement and cloud edge effects were observed through the monthly solar irradiation distribution over the three years of measurements. Around 28% of the incident annual irradiation was at irradiance levels at or above 1000 W/m². The methodology developed for the optimal inverter loading ratio (ILR) was applied over one full year of solar generation data for the five technologies. It was observed that for inverter loading ratios commonly used on utility-scale PV power plants (around 120%), the overload losses varied from 0.3% to 2.4%, depending on technology. The optimal ILR for the more traditional crystalline Si PV technology was estimated to be 126%.

This study evaluated the outcome differences when adopting five different solar irradiation databases on the sizing of hybrid solar photovoltaic-diesel generators designed to supply electricity to isolated minigrids. To do this, the two most widely adopted photovoltaic (PV) simulation packages in the market, namely PVsyst® and HOMER Energy® were used. The different origins, data timespan, space and time resolution, of the five most relevant solar irradiation databases available for the region were compared. A case study was presented to illustrate the influences of the solar irradiation database and the solar simulation tool on the resulting PV generator. Furthermore, the hourly behavior of the energy supply to an existing load in a minigrid in the Brazilian Amazon was evaluated, together with the savings in diesel obtained with the resulting PV generator. Evaluating the five options of solar radiation databases, for the same PV plant configuration, variations of up to 19.7% were found in the expectation of PV generation. When the simulation software package was varied, the combined effect (radiation database X PV system sizing tool) showed differences of up to 20.6%. This demonstrates that despite having different algorithms, computational tools have a small influence (less than 1%) on results. These combined differences, taking into account the load curve behavior and the total diesel generation capacity installed at the site, resulted in over 100% differences in the optimum PV generator size in the case study. The total savings in diesel fuel, over a 15-years period, ranged from $ 6.5 million to over $ 16 million (>2.5 times) for the smallest PV system. This demonstrates the importance of the correct choice of database. These evaluations can be extended to minigrids of any size elsewhere. The novelty and originality of this study is to demonstrate and quantify for the first time the influence of the solar radiation database and the PV simulator package on the sizing of PV-diesel generators. The consequences of this study are not only of scientific and academic importance, but of economic and commercial interest as well.