0000000000851510

AUTHOR

Marcelo A. Perez

Design of a Cleaning Program for a PV Plant Based on Analysis of Energy Losses

Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy has grown significantly over the past few years. However, despite the increase in installed capacity, this energy source still raises important concerns related to the variability of power production. The short-term effects such as cloud shadowing and supply interruptions, as well as long-term effects such as dust accumulation, seasonal variation, and ageing of PV modules, can cause variability of power production. Therefore, the analysis of all the variability sources in order to provide statistically consistent power production data is an important challenge. This study presents a methodology to analyze data from a PV plant in order to have an independent ev…

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Optimization of photovoltaic solar power plant locations in northern Chile

The optimization of photovoltaic solar power plants location in Atacama Desert, Chile, is presented in this study. The study considers three objectives: (1) Find sites with the highest solar energy potential, (2) determine sites with the least impact on the environment, and (3) locate the areas which produce small social impact. To solve this task, multi-criteria decision analyses (MCDAs) such as analytical hierarchy process and ordered weighted averaging were applied in a GIS environment. In addition, survey results of social impacts were analyzed and included into the decision-making process, including landscape values. The most suitable sites for solar energy projects were found near roa…

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