Validation of photovoltaic model for application in a distributed energy source using weather data

Resumo

This work presents a photovoltaic model for a simulation of the electric energy production of a
distributed energy system. The model will be validated through measured weather data and energy produced by
an 88.04 kWp power plant installed on the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) in Vitória. The validation
consists of comparing the real power data acquired by the photovoltaic plant and the power data calculated from
the model using weather data, specifications of the panels and inverters and the constructive characteristics of the
system. The proposed model is based on the paper “Management of an island and grid-connected microgrid using
hybrid economic model predictive control with weather data”, Applied Energy, v. 278, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115581. In addition, the model has been improved with the inclusion of
new intrinsic parameters of the material, the calculation of losses and the adjustments for different tilt angles and
azimuth orientations. Results of this method reveal that the model was able to reproduce the behavior of the real
photovoltaic plant, presenting a mean absolute percentage error of 8.8% between real and simulated data.