Estimating the Performance Ratio and Degradation Factor of Rooftop Solar PV Plant

Rajesh Kumar Prakhya; Ch Lokeshwar Reddy

Rajesh Kumar Prakhya Assoc. Professor, CVR College of Engineering /EEE Department, Hyderabad, India
Ch Lokeshwar Reddy Assoc. Professor, CVR College of Engineering /EEE Department, Hyderabad, India

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of degradation on the grid connected rooftop solar plant. The effect of degradation and plant performance are evaluated and analyzed for 20kWp SPV plant on rooftop of EEE Block in CVR College of Engineering for the year 2015 and 2016. The above analysis is done manually from the plant data extracted from web-interface. The degradation of the plant is analyzed by first calculating the performance ratio of the plant for two successive years. Later the percentage change in the plant Performance Ratio's are calculated. This investigation reveals that degradation of the plant performance is high in summer season because of increased ambient temperature. The degradation is more during the month of May and less during
the month of February. The reasons for this kind of performance are analyzed. After analyzing the results, it is recommended that plant should be maintained and inspected at regular interval for the improved performance.