Standardised evaluation of renewable energy systems

Renewable energy systems (RES) have to be designed specifically for both site and application. A comparison between different RES with the aim of evaluating the performance and the relative merits of the systems as a whole and/or their components is therefore difficult. As part of the BENCHMARKING project which is an international project carried out by 10 European research organisations, NREL (US) and the Australian Cooperative Research Centre, a proposal is here presented on how to measure performance, compress data and evaluate them in a standardised form, i.e. a standard evaluation report (SER). It covers all types of renewable energy systems at any location and for any application. Its primary aim is to allow a comparison of RES and their key components.