The presentations from the 2013 PV Performance Modeling Workshop are now available for download. A link to the workshop is available at http://pvpmc.org/events/ You can also directly access the workshop page here. Please note that you will need to login to the PVPMC.org site in order to download documents. If you are not logged in, it will redirect you to a page with login links. Have fun reviewing the great presentations.
PVPMC Blog
2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop Completed!
The 2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop was held on May 1-2 in Santa Clara, CA. The event was well attended with about 150 attendees from North America and Europe and the feedback we received has been very positive. Workshop attendees learned about advances in in PV performance models and modeling practice from industry experts (late into the night!). Presentations from the workshop are being processed and will be made available on the web in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to this blog to hear when and where these will be available.
Finally, a big thanks to all who participated in the workshop, presented materials, expressed opinions, etc. We hope to be able to implement many of the ideas expressed during the workshop in the coming months and years and hope to be able to hold similar workshops on an annual basis, if not more frequently.
-Josh
IEA Task 13 Workshop on “Lessons Learned from the Analytical Monitoring and Modeling of PV Systems” June 16, Tampa, FL
The International Energy Agency’s Task 13 (Photovoltaic Power Systems) will present a workshop in conjunction with the 39th IEEE PV Specialists Conference in Tampa, FL on Sunday June 16 from 1 – 5 PM at the Tampa Convention Center.
The workshop is called “Lessons Learned from the Analytical Monitoring and Modeling of PV Systems”
Summary: Optimizing the performance of PV Plants is increasingly important as the PV industry becomes more competitive. This workshop will present work being performed as part of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Task 13 on Performance and Reliability of PV Systems. In particular, the workshop will focus on lessons learned from measuring performance from fielded PV systems and methods for analyzing and modeling system performance. Presenters will describe analysis methods and tools for use with PV monitoring data to identify system problems and better understand technology differences in diverse environments.
2013 PV Performance Modeling Workshop is expanding registration limits!
There has been lots of interest in this workshop and we have just expanded the number of registration slots for this workshop to beyond 110! If you have not registered yet, please do so ASAP at this site (http://pvworkshops.sandia.gov).
Registration Open for the 2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop (May 1-2, Santa Clara, CA)
The 2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop is going to be held May 1-2 in Santa Clara, CA as part of the 2013 PV Systems Symposium being sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories and Electrical Power Research Institute. Registration is available here. Draft agenda is also available for download.
“Modeling for PV Plant Optimization” published in Photovoltaics International
The wide variety of PV system technologies and designs, site conditions, and operations strategies means that complex PV system performance models are needed to represent PV plant performance. While PV component and system costs are rapidly falling, the upfront costs of PV (before any energy is generated) remain high. Sandia National Laboratories’ scientists, Joshua Stein & Bruce King’s article, “Modelling for PV Plant Optimization,” addresses these issues. Because most PV power plant development costs are paid before any energy is generated, optimizing energy production during plant design is critical. PV performance model results drive many design decisions. Current PV performance models can represent only some of the differences between sites, technologies, designs and operations choices. Their paper describes known performance tradeoffs faced by PV plant designers and operators and presents a vision for improving PV performance models to improve PV plant performance and lower costs—hastening solar clean energy production adoption.
- View the Photovoltaics International issue preview (purchase link).
2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop
The 2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop is going to be held May 1-2 in Santa Clara, CA as part of the 2013 PV Systems Symposium being sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories and Electrical Power Research Institute. The dates and venue is set but the registration site is not yet available. Stay Tuned for more information.
Version 1.1 of PV_LIB Toolbox is Ready to Download!
With 2013 upon us, it is now time to upgrade the PV_LIB Toolbox to Version 1.1! Visit the download site and upgrade today. The new version has many new functions and several important bug fixes, so make sure to upgrade ASAP. The complete list of functions by category is available here.
Thank you to all the users who made comments (including discovery of several bugs) on Version 1.0. We are already working on new functions for the next version, so please send in your ideas and contributions to be considered for inclusion later in 2013.
!!!!!Important!!!!!!: Make sure you remove the path to the old version of the PV_LIB Toolbox version in Matlab, otherwise you cannot be sure which version of the function is being used. Here are instructions.
Plans for the 2nd PV Performance Modeling Workshop
Sandia is planning to hold the 2nd PV Pefromance Modeling Workshop in April or May of 2013 in San Jose, CA (date is not yet determined). Stay tuned for details as arrangements are finalized. We are going to host this workshop as part of a Sandia PV Systems Symposium, which will include not only PV Performance Modeling Sessions, but also sessions on Inverter Reliability and PV System O&M. We will send out an official announcement and agenda in the coming weeks. We hope you will consider participating!
39th IEEE PV Specialists Conference Call for Papers
The 39th IEEE PV Specialists Conference (PVSC) will be in Tampa, Florida from June 16-21, 2013. This is a great opportunity to for learning about and reporting on the latest developments from the PV performance modeling community. I am the Area 9 chair for this year and am looking forward to organizing some special PV performance modeling sessions, so stay tuned and plan on attending this highlight to the PV year! The Call for Papers is posted in the documents section.