Objective To investigate methods for photovoltaic plant performance improvements by using improved components, proper adaptation and control. The concerted action 'Power conditioning and control' has been established to identify the potential for improvement in photovoltaic (PV) plant performance for the existing PV pilot plants in the European Community. As a result of this action, initial hardware modifications have been performed (replacement of the former series type charge controller by a shunt type one which has been designed according to the working group specifications for the 50 kW plant in Aghia Roumeli, Greece).The performance of the inverter in both stand alone and grid connected operations has been analysed. For easy interpretation of the plant performance results, a standard procedure using frequency and energy distribution as a function of actual power has been developed for the energy input and output analysis.Experiments are being carried out in order to confirm the simulation results on the effect of the maximum power point (MPP) tracking versus direct coupling. In the past, little reliable data from the pilot plants available. Through plant specific actions more data will be provided by the individual plants. Also data from existing PV plants are available tofurther verify the results.The concerted action "Power conditioning and control" has been established to identify the potential for improvements of PV-plant performance for the existing PV pilot plants in the European Community. As a result of this action, first hardware modifications have been performed such as the replacement of the former series-types charge controller by a shunt type one which has been designed according to the working group-specifications for the 50 kW plant in Aghia Roumeli Greece. Much efforts have been directed towards the performance analysis of the inverter for both stand-alone and grid-connected operation. It could be shown that self-consumption of the inverters has a big effort on efficiency part-load operation dominates most of the time. For easy interpretation of the plant performance results, a standard procedure using frequency and energy distribution as a function of actual power has been developed for the energy in- and output analysis. Currently three experiments are being made to confirm the simulation results on the effect of the MPP-tacking versus direct coupling. A general problem encountered in the past, was the fact that only very few reliable data from the pilot-plants were available. Through plant-specific actions currently under way, it can be expected that in future more data data will be provided by the individual plants. On the other hand there are PV-plants existing from which very detailed data could be made available to further verify the statements which have been made up to now. These plants are the 5 kWp Rosemount system (grid-connected) in Ireland, the 4 kWp PV-house of the institute located in Munich (also grid-connected), the Braming PV-house of the Jydsk Telefon company which operates in stand-alone mode, the 8 kWp grid-connected residential system of the Stadtwerke Saarbrucken and the Rappeneck-system in Freiburg. All these projects have been supported by the Commission and access to the data is guaranteed. Further to these plants, data and results of the 100 kW PV-plant in Madrid which is operated by Hidroelectrica Espanola will be evaluated. Programme(s) FP2-JOULE 1 - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of energy - non-nuclear energies and rational use of energy - (JOULE), 1989-1992 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.* EU contribution No data Address Heidenhofstrasse 2 79110 FREIBURG (IN BREISGAU) Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all IBERDROLA II Spain EU contribution No data Address 28001 MADRID See on map Total cost No data JYDISK TELEFON Denmark EU contribution No data Address 8310 AARHUS-TRANBJERG See on map Total cost No data NMRC Ireland EU contribution No data Address CORK See on map Total cost No data WIRTSCHAFT UND INFRASTRUKTUR GMBH & CO PLANUNGS KG Germany EU contribution No data Address SYLVENSTEINSTRASSE 2 MUENCHEN See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
