Ensuring Optimum Power Output in a Grid Tied Solar PV System Through Selection of Proper Panel Size

Due to favorable geographical location of Bangladesh in the equatorial region, the prospect of harnessing energy from solar PV is quite high. In the backdrop of this fact, the authors in this paper, have made an extensive study to optimize the solar PV power output through the use of different panel sizes in a few sample areas of Bangladesh. For a ftxed area using PVpanels, the output power should remain more or less identical for any size of panels (large or small in dimension) used with negligible variations due to variation in panel efficiency or quality. However, through this study, it has been found that, by using different panel sizes (from 70 WP to 330WP) each at a time, keeping other conditions constant, a wide variation in the output has been observed. Such a difference in the output with the change of size of panels raises a serious question on the selection of appropriate panel size for getting the optimum output at any location. This paper aims to highlight the fact that while designing a grid-tied PVplant, very little attention is given to select the proper size and type of the panels, which may lead to substantial loss of energy. In this study, various panel models with different sizes and watt ratings with nearly identical efficiencies have been analyzed for three selected locations. All these models were simulated with Helioscope software for their annual throughput, using the weather and average solar radiation data from Meteonorm software (version 8.0.3) and TMY (Typical Meteorological Year) hourly irradiance data. Simulation results show that depending on the area of the solar PV installation, proper panel size has to be determined beforehand to get the maximum outputfront the installation.