Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) offers hope toward environmental sustainability in terms of carbon and global heat reduction. The harvested energy from solar PV depends on the solar radiation, temperature of the cells, and the voltage generated in the PV modules. With the recent proliferation of solar PV pr...

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Main Authors: Kenneth E. Okedu, Ahmed Sultan Salim Al Ghaithi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Energy Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2022.858803/full
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author Kenneth E. Okedu
Kenneth E. Okedu
Ahmed Sultan Salim Al Ghaithi
author_facet Kenneth E. Okedu
Kenneth E. Okedu
Ahmed Sultan Salim Al Ghaithi
author_sort Kenneth E. Okedu
collection DOAJ
description Solar Photovoltaic (PV) offers hope toward environmental sustainability in terms of carbon and global heat reduction. The harvested energy from solar PV depends on the solar radiation, temperature of the cells, and the voltage generated in the PV modules. With the recent proliferation of solar PV projects in Oman, it is imperative to carry out new studies on the causes and effects of failures of these grid connected PVs, for effective and reliable performance. This study serves as a prototype to evaluate the performance of solar PV installations in Oman, considering the possible failures that may occur. These failures could lead to poor performance of the solar PV systems during operation. The performance analysis of a 6.2 MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic system in Muscat car parking, Oman is presented in this paper. The electrical parameters, and data analysis of the PV system were evaluated by monitoring the voltage, frequency, power factor, and total output power variables. The analysis of the PV performance was based on three internal dynamic failures; dust accumulation, inverter malfunction, and faulty protection schemes. When the solar PV cells were exposed to high percentage of contamination and dust, the plant performance dropped sharply to lower power generation by 43.5%. Furthermore, Inverters failure data analysis show that the average power generation degraded by 34%, and the average power generation degradation of 1% in the same period due to protection schemes failure. The results demonstrated that dust accumulation and inverter malfunction are the two major shortcomings that could lead to low power efficiency of solar PVs during operation.
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spelling doaj.art-880c43180f7d48b792038642bd0957a12022-12-22T02:53:55ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Energy Research2296-598X2022-05-011010.3389/fenrg.2022.858803858803Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power NetworkKenneth E. Okedu0Kenneth E. Okedu1Ahmed Sultan Salim Al Ghaithi2Department of Electrical and Communication Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat, OmanDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Nisantasi University, Istanbul, TurkeyDepartment of Electrical and Communication Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Muscat, OmanSolar Photovoltaic (PV) offers hope toward environmental sustainability in terms of carbon and global heat reduction. The harvested energy from solar PV depends on the solar radiation, temperature of the cells, and the voltage generated in the PV modules. With the recent proliferation of solar PV projects in Oman, it is imperative to carry out new studies on the causes and effects of failures of these grid connected PVs, for effective and reliable performance. This study serves as a prototype to evaluate the performance of solar PV installations in Oman, considering the possible failures that may occur. These failures could lead to poor performance of the solar PV systems during operation. The performance analysis of a 6.2 MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic system in Muscat car parking, Oman is presented in this paper. The electrical parameters, and data analysis of the PV system were evaluated by monitoring the voltage, frequency, power factor, and total output power variables. The analysis of the PV performance was based on three internal dynamic failures; dust accumulation, inverter malfunction, and faulty protection schemes. When the solar PV cells were exposed to high percentage of contamination and dust, the plant performance dropped sharply to lower power generation by 43.5%. Furthermore, Inverters failure data analysis show that the average power generation degraded by 34%, and the average power generation degradation of 1% in the same period due to protection schemes failure. The results demonstrated that dust accumulation and inverter malfunction are the two major shortcomings that could lead to low power efficiency of solar PVs during operation.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2022.858803/fullsolar PVdust accumulationfailureoman power gridfault analysis
spellingShingle Kenneth E. Okedu
Kenneth E. Okedu
Ahmed Sultan Salim Al Ghaithi
Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network
Frontiers in Energy Research
solar PV
dust accumulation
failure
oman power grid
fault analysis
title Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network
title_full Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network
title_fullStr Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network
title_full_unstemmed Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network
title_short Comparative Study of the Internal Dynamic Failures of Grid-Connected Solar PVs: The Case of the Oman Power Network
title_sort comparative study of the internal dynamic failures of grid connected solar pvs the case of the oman power network
topic solar PV
dust accumulation
failure
oman power grid
fault analysis
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2022.858803/full
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