Solar potential assessment and performance indices analysis of photovoltaic generator for isolated Lakshadweep island of India

Abstract Lakshadweep island is located in the Arabian Sea (8° and 12° 13′ North Latitude, 71° and 74° East Longitude) of India where the island inhabitant depends upon the power generation from diesel generator because of inaccessibility to the grid power due to its location hinder. As an alternative viable option for this island, inhabitant is to use photovoltaic power generation. This paper presents the normalized performance results obtained from photovoltaic (PV) system and the solar potential assessment for four islands of Lakshadweep, mainly, Andrott, Kavaratti, Kiltan and Minicoy. The monthly average and annual average normalized performance parameters such as array yield, reference yield, array capture losses, system losses and performance ratio of 10 kWp photovoltaic system is calculated. Besides, the monthly average and annual average capacity factor and cell temperature are also obtained. It is found that the obtained results for annual average performance ratio and capacity factor vary in the range of 64.22–65.83% and 15.51–16.09%, respectively. The annual average array yield, reference yield, final yield, array capture losses and system losses for the considered islands are found to be 4.13–4.29 h/d (symbolized as h/d), 5.78–5.88 h/d, 3.72–3.86 h/d, 1.58–1.66 h/d and 0.41–0.43 h/d, respectively.