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DOE OSTI · 21350409

Quantifying PV power Output Variability

Hoff, Thomas E·Perez, Richard
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Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach to rigorously quantify power Output Variability from a fleet of photovoltaic (PV) systems, ranging from a single central station to a set of distributed PV systems. The approach demonstrates that the relative power Output Variability for a fleet of identical PV systems (same size, orientation, and spacing) can be quantified by identifying the number of PV systems and their Dispersion Factor. The Dispersion Factor is a new variable that captures the relationship between PV Fleet configuration, Cloud Transit Speed, and the Time Interval over which variability is evaluated. Results indicate that Relative Output Variability: (1) equals the inverse of the square root of the number of systems for fully dispersed PV systems; and (2) could be further minimized for optimally-spaced PV systems. (author)

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14 SOLAR ENERGYCLOUDSCONFIGURATIONDISPERSED STORAGE AND GENERATIONORIENTATIONPHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTSPOWER GENERATIONPRODUCTIONVARIATIONSVELOCITY

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Hoff, Thomas E, Perez, Richard. 2010-10-15. Quantifying PV power Output Variability. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2010.07.003

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