Effect of Environmental Parameters on Performance of Solar Photovoltaic System in Western India

Abstract

This paper presents solar PV-based MG performance in relation to environmental parameters, such as temperature, wind speed, solar irradiance, and relative humidity. The MG system is installed at a commercial building in Pilani, Rajasthan, India, consisting of 77 monocrystalline PV solar panels. The analysis was performed with the real-time data collected from the weather monitoring system and the smart meters installed at the MG rooftop. The data collected comprised of outside temperature, wind speed, solar irradiance, and relative humidity. The correlation analyses were conducted between global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity. Further, linear regression analysis was conducted to find the relative equation of temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity with the GHI. In order to provide a more precise relative equation between GHI and other parameters, non-linear regression analyses were also carried out. It was found that there exists a strong positive correlation between GHI and temperature, a positive correlation between GHI and wind speed, and a negative correlation between GHI and relative humidity. Ultimately, by estimating the power output using real data and comparing it to data obtained by the theoretical equation consisting of these weather parameters, the research paper concluded a high degree of correlation (0.817785).