Evaluation of Energy Production for Large-scale Photovoltaic Plant with Different Configurations

In this paper, comprehensive analysis of energy production of large scale PV plants with different configurations was performed. Totally six different configurations were compared, including 1) PV plant with conventional central inverters; 2) PV plant with string inverters; 3) PV plant with series connected panel level DC optimizers of Boost topology; 4) PV plant with series connected panel level DC optimizers of Buck topology; 5) PV plant with series connected panel level DC optimizers of Boost-Buck topology; and 6) PV plant with string level DC optimizers in parallel. Static models of PV plants based on PV panel level mismatch were established for energy production. The impact of geographical locations would be reflected in the radiation received by PV plant, and PV panel aging reflected in the degradation of the short circuit current of each PV module. The relation curve between the efficiency of inverters and DC optimizers and their output were simplified and applied in the model. PV panel aging influence on the energy production was analyzed in detail.