Modelling of the efficiency of the photovoltaic modules: Grid-connected plants to the Cuban national electrical system

Abstract Photovoltaic power generation capacity is increasing tremendously as a result of strong renewable energy policies and environmental concerns. In particular, the use of solar modules to generate electricity has grown significantly in Cuba recently. Based on the statistics published by the European Commission, the installed capacity of the photovoltaic modules increased from 15 to 100 MW in the timeframe of 2015–2019. In this context, efficiency is one of the most critical figures of merit of a photovoltaic module. It describes the ratio of the produced electrical power to the received solar irradiance. In this work, a widely-used model of efficiency is considered, and the incorporation of the pre-module losses due to light reflections is our original contribution. Experimental data recorded during eight months in a plant connected to the Cuban National Electric System are employed to examined and check the proposed approach. Our findings provide a key achievement in the estimation of the module efficiency within a system. In addition, based on the previous results, we perform a rough evaluation of the prevision of the photovoltaic system energy production using levelized cost of energy within the framework of the discounting method, showing a drastic drop by a factor two in the coming two decades.

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