Vidéo: Gofran Chowdhury, R&D Team Lead at 3E introducing the "Context-Sensitive PV Plant Component Benchmarking" TRUST-PV report.
The comprehensive use of smart monitoring platforms and advanced communication devices has revolutionised the deployment of PV systems worldwide. Real-time monitoring enables us to maximise energy yield, promptly identify failures and track the performance of PV components, particularly PV inverters and PV modules. We can benchmark context-sensitive PV plant components by analysing detailed information about each component and monitoring data at different electrical levels, such as sub-string, string, inverter and PV plant. This approach allows us to examine the impact of contextual parameters, including micro-climate, environment, different assets, component configurations and manufacturers, on the distribution of key performance indicators (KPIs) for PV components.
Comprehensive data for in-depth benchmarking
The benchmarking exercise relies on a substantial amount of data provided by various partners within the Trust-PV consortium. This report primarily focuses on data obtained from our SynaptiQ performance management platform. A subset of more than 5000 connected PV plants and more than 100,000 inverters, with a total capacity exceeding 6.5 GW, was used for this report. These plants are equipped with PV inverters from over 65 manufacturers and PV modules from over 200 manufacturers.
Supporting stakeholder decision-making
This benchmarking exercise aims to support technical decision-making for different stakeholders, including manufacturers, designers, operators, and financial entities. By showcasing the differences in performance across various PV component contexts, we aim to enhance PV yield and degradation modeling, improve the reliability of design choices and configurations, and ultimately drive better outcomes for the industry.
Laying the foundation for future research
The report provides an overview of the benchmarking exercise, highlighting the operational KPIs of PV plants across different regions, climate zones and their evolution over time. Furthermore, it delves into the inverter replacement rate as a crucial step toward optimising the replacement cycle. While the report does not explain all the differences between different PV component contexts, it lays the foundation for future research and decision-making processes.
As the TRUST-PV project progresses, additional data from our consortium partners will be incorporated, including PV component failure data, O&M ticketing data, monitoring and as-built data, asset management data, and performance data from floating PV plants. These data will further enhance the benchmarking exercise and contribute to tasks such as predictive maintenance, peer-to-peer performance analysis, and Cost Priority Number methodology development.
Download the report on context-sensitive PV plant component benchmarking
We invite you to download the full report to explore the rich insights gained from our context-sensitive benchmarking exercise. By leveraging this knowledge, we can collectively drive the PV industry towards improved performance, reliability and sustainability.
Download the report to uncover the valuable findings and pave the way for enhanced PV plant performance.
More information about the TRUST-PV project
- Read our blog post from 2020 in which we announced the launch of the project
- Visit the project’s website on www.trust-pv.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N952957. The information reflects only the project’s view and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
