Sub-Hourly Models Calculating PV Plant Performance using Measured Weather Data: Experimental Study

Photovoltaic (PV) power plant performance calculations are essential to predict the electrical energy injected into the grid. The main objective of this work is to analyze the measured daytime data of two PV systems and those collected from three weather stations installed in two cities in Morocco (Marrakesh &Essaouira). Each parameter of these data was compared with relevant theoretical sub-hourly models used in the literature. The focus is on the comparison between on- site measured and calculated values of 1) four meteorological parameters: the global tilted irradiance, the wind speed, the ambient and cell temperatures and 2) two electrical parameters: DC&AC powers. The validation of all models is justified by the correlation between calculated and corresponding measured values that gave an RMSE less than 3 %.