This WG’s Chair is Dr. Jonathan Leloux (Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain) and its Vice Chair is Dr. Sonia Pinto (University of Lisbon, Portugal).
Email for contact: jonathan.leloux@upm.es
Objectives:
WG5 aims to contribute towards research on PV systems that are better integrated into the grid, that perform better, and whose operation under real-world conditions is better understood. This is done through the exploration of different complementary pathways:
Objective 1. Collecting information about the application of PV in grids ranging from (i) forecasting of irradiance and hence PV power generation for utilities, (ii) low voltage distributed grids, (iii) smart solar charging of electric vehicles to (iv) domestic uses of PV such as smart appliances. This WG will use information from WG1 on PV monitoring, WG2 on reliability and durability, and WG3 on PV simulation, and information from communications with PV experts, electrical engineers, utilities, smart grid experts and meteorologists.
Objective 2. Identification of required data and appropriate simulation models to be used in the framework of PV in grids.
Objective 3. Sharing knowledge originating from WG5 with a wider community of PV experts and other experts at utilities and smart grid sector by Internet, workshops, seminars and joint publications.
Tasks:
- Task 5.1: Collection of information in the data server of this Action, about PV in grids, from realized projects, publications and information retrieved from internet, together with PV experts, electrical engineers, utilities, smart grid experts and meteorologists.
- Task 5.2: Identification of required data and appropriate simulation models, to be used in the framework of PV in grids given the challenges of: (i) matching electricity demand with supply in (smart) energy homes, (ii) feeding distributed solar power into grids under variable irradiance conditions and (iii) the need for accurate forecasting of solar power and cloud formation by utilities to be able to balance distribution grids.
Conclusions and future outlook:
WG5 is currently organized in several sub-groups. Three of them have been particularly active and prolific:
- PearlPQ: Power quality at the connection of PV systems to LV and MV grids
The high diffusion of photovoltaics plants in medium and low voltage distribution grids might cause different issues in the integration such as reverse load flows, protection settings and power quality. Since a significative number of power quality disturbances can be introduced into the grid by PV inverter, the focus of this task, led by University of Lisbon, Portugal, is to carry out an assessment of power quality indicators for various PV inverters topologies (micro-inverters, string and central inverters) and to understand their impact on the utility grid vis-à-vis the EN50160 standard. Some of the inverters’ assessment will be carried out in laboratories, where different power operating conditions which simulate various irradiance levels can be tested.
- PearlSoil: Mapping of annual and seasonal soiling in Western Europe
As part of the effort on soiling, this task led by University of Jaén, Spain, is working on extracting the soiling losses from sites available in the above mentioned PearlPV dataset, using standard and novel soiling extraction techniques. The work in this task is currently focused on building a model to automatically calculate the performance index and the soiling ratio of PV systems, by integrating PV power data and various climatic data which are available in public repositories.
- PearlFault: Fault detection for PV system fleets using machine learning
This task, led by University of Madrid, Spain, is developing fault detection algorithms to improve the energy yield of grid-connected PV systems and reduce their power instability. Several complementary approaches are considered, including parametric and non-parametric models, peer to peer (P2P) approaches, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), stochastic modeling, etc.
WG 2 in the context of Country Reports:
WG5 is composed of participants from two dozen European countries and its research activities are international. Data analyses are carried out using a database that comprises PV performance data of PV systems which are located in many countries of Europe, totaling approximately 10,000 PV systems, Pearl PV Country Reports 2020 download – PEARL PV (pearlpv-cost.eu)
References:
Fernández-Solas A.; Micheli L. ; Almonacid F.; Fernández E.F., Optical degradation impact on the spectral performance of photovoltaic technology, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 141, 2021.
Micheli, L.; Fernández, E.F.; Muller, M.; Smestad, G.P.; Almonacid F. (2020), Selection of optimal wavelengths for optical soiling modelling and detection in photovoltaic modules. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 212, pp. 110539.
Jonathan, L; Narvarte, L.; Desportes, A.; Trebosc, D. (2020), Performance to Peers (P2P): A benchmark approach to fault detections applied to photovoltaic system fleets. Solar Energy, Vol. 202, pp. 522-539.
Micheli, L; Caballero, J.A.; Fernandez, E.F.; Smestad, G.P.; Nofuentes, G.; Mallick, T.K.; Almonacid, F. (2019), Correlating photovoltaic soiling losses to waveband and single-value transmittance measurements, Energy, Volume 180, 2019, pp. 376-386.
Smestad, G.P.; Germer, T.A.; Alrashidi, H.; Fernández, E.F.; Dey, S.; Brahma, H.; Sarmah, N.; Ghosh, A.; Sellami, N.; Hassan, I.A.I.; Desouky, M.; Kasry, A.; Pesala, B.; Sundaram, S.; Almonacid, F.; Reddy, K.S.; Mallick, T.K.; Micheli, L. (2020), Modelling photovoltaic soiling losses through optical characterization, Scientific Reports, 10, 58.
Livera, L.; Theristis, M; Makrides, G.; Sutterlueti, J.; Ransome, S.; Georghiou, G.E. (2019), Performance analysis of mechanistic and machine learning models for photovoltaic energy yield prediction, in Proceedings of EU PVSEC-36.
Fernández-Solas, A.; Micheli, L.; Muller, M.; Almonacid, F.; Fernández, E.F. (2020), Design, characterization and indoor validation of the optical soiling detector “DUSST”, Solar Energy, Volume 211, pp. 1459-1468.
Fernández-Solas, A.; Micheli, L.; Muller, M.; Almonacid, F.; Fernández, E.F. (2020), Novel Model to Estimate Transmittance Soiling Losses Using DUSST, an Innovative Soiling Sensor, in Proceedings of EU PVSEC-37.
PARTICIPANTS (status update April 2022)
| # | Last name | First name | Affiliation | Country |
| 1 | Albu | Mihaela | Politechnic University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 2 | Almonacid | Florencia | University of Jaen | Spain |
| 3 | Amaro e Silva | Rodrigo | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 4 | Assiandi | Feyswal | 3E | France |
| 5 | Astapov | Victor | Taltech | Estonia |
| 6 | Barchi | Grazia | EURAC | Italy |
| 7 | Bento | Alexandre | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 8 | Binani | Ashish | TNO | Netherlands |
| 9 | Bristow | Noel | Bangor University | UK |
| 10 | Brito | Miguel | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 11 | Caruana | Cedric | University of Malta | Malta |
| 12 | Celanovic | Nikola | Typhoon | Serbia |
| 13 | Costa | Pedro | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 14 | Drouin | Pierre-Francois | Syneria | France |
| 15 | Fernandez | Eduardo | University of Jaen | Spain |
| 16 | Fialho | Luis | University of Evora | Portugal |
| 17 | Georgieva | Penka | Burgas Free University | Bulgaria |
| 18 | Gercek | Cihan | University of Twente (UT) | Netherlands |
| 19 | Gomez | Emilio | University of Castilla-La-Mancha | Spain |
| 20 | Knoebl | Karl | University of Applied Sciences Wien | Austria |
| 21 | Leloux | Jonathan | Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) | Spain |
| 22 | Licari | John | University of Malta | Malta |
| 23 | Livera | Andreas | University of Cyprus | Cyprus |
| 24 | Lovchinov | Konstantin | CL SENES | Bulgaria |
| 25 | Marinkovic | Zlatica | University of Nis | Serbia |
| 26 | Micheli | Leonardo | University of Jaen | Spain |
| 27 | Mikalauskiene | Renata | College of Arts, Science and Technology | Malta |
| 28 | Munoz | Emilio | University of Jaen | Spain |
| 29 | Paraiso | Guilherme | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 30 | Pinto | Sonia | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 31 | Richter | Mauricio | 3E | Belgium |
| 32 | Sanz Martinez | Asier | Tecnalia | Spain |
| 33 | Sarr | Babacar | LuciSun | Belgium |
| 34 | Senabre | Carolina | Miguel Hernandez University of Elche | Spain |
| 35 | Spagnuolo | Giovanni | University of Salerno | Italy |
| 36 | Stoilkov | Vlatko | Ss. Cyril and Methodius | FYROM |
| 37 | Theocharides | Spyros | University of Cyprus | Cyprus |
| 38 | Theristis | Marios | University of Cyprus | Cyprus |
| 39 | Todorovic | Jovan | Elektroprenos | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 40 | Valero | Sergio | Miguel Hernandez University of Elche | Spain |
| 41 | Wilkin | Benjamin | APERe | Belgium |
TASKS
WG5 is organized along several Tasks that are proposed by the participants. Typically, a Task starts when several participants are interested in a collaboration on a specific topic that can lead to the joint publication of an article in a scientific journal, and it ends once the paper is published. Each line is coordinated by one of the participants who are willing to take upon this responsibility and who will usually be the first author of the paper.
Several lines of work have been proposed. Some of them are currently ongoing, and other potential lines have been discussed and they will start if we can identify a team and a leader ready to attack it.
More details on each Task appear below in the text.
Ongoing Tasks
- PearlPQ
- Power quality at the connection of PV to the LV and MV grids
- Sonia Pinto, Grazia Barchi, John Licari, Cedric Caruana, Jovan Todorović, Karl Knoebl
- PearlSoil
- Mapping annual and seasonal soiling in Western Europe
- Leonardo Micheli, Joao Gabriel Bessa, Jonathan Leloux, Florencia Almonacid, Eduardo F. Fernandez
Potential future tasks
- Fault detection for PV system fleets using machine learning; Andreas Livera, Marios Theristis, Jonathan Leloux
- PV in the context of smart-grids and self-consumption; Cihan Gercek, Luis Fialho, Brian Azzopardi, Karl Knoebl
- Spatio-temporal forecasting and PV monitoring; Rodrigo Amaro e Silva, Miguel Centeno Brito, Jonathan Leloux
- PV degradation vs stress factors (temp, RH%, UV, etc); Sascha Lindig, David Moser, Jonathan Leloux
- Monitoring data filtering and Quality Control (QC); Jonathan Leloux, Penka Georgieva, Zlatica Marinkovic, Sascha Lindig
Willing to join a task or create a new one? Ready to meet with the required high level of compromise? Send an email with your proposal to the WG5 leaders (see contacts below).
—
TASK PearlPQ: Power quality at the connection of PV to the LV and MV grids
Power quality at the connection of PV to the LV and MV grids; Grazia Barchi, Sonia Pinto, John Licari, Cedric Caruana, Jovan Todorović, Karl Knobl.
The high diffusion of photovoltaics plants in medium and low voltage distribution grids might cause different issues in the integration such as reverse load flows, protection settings and power quality. In the literature several works analyzed the impact of PV in grid PQ mainly in terms of voltage distortions and harmonic contents and how these aspects can affect the proper system operation but also power losses and in certain cases economic revenue for utility or final-user. Since a significative number of power quality disturbances should be introduced into the grid by PV inverter, the focus of this team is to is to carry out an assessment of power quality indicators for various PV inverters topologies (micro-inverters, string and central inverters) and to understand their impact on the utility grid vis-à-vis the EN50160 standard. Some of the inverters’ assessment will be carried out in the laboratory (when the inverter is available) where different power operating conditions simulating various irradiance levels can be tested. Through this exercise, the levels of the current harmonics will be analyzed particularly at partial loading. It is expected that the Total Harmonic Distortion will go up as the power generated reduces. In cases were the inverters are not available in the laboratory on-site measurements will be carried out.
On-site measurements have already been collected for a single inverter and three-phase inverter and a comparative analysis to a laboratory setup is currently being done.
In addition, a comparative power quality analysis between different inverter brands can also be conducted but this is dependent on the availability of inverters.
During this work, some short scientific missions are being considered by several members of the team.
The aim of this group is to publish the final results of this work in the near future. Simultaneously, we are preparing a special issue for a journal, focusing on power quality impact of PV systems in the grid.
—
TASK PearlSoil: Mapping annual and seasonal soiling in Western Europe
Mapping annual and seasonal soiling in Western Europe; Leonardo Micheli, Joao Gabriel Bessa, Jonathan Leloux, Florencia Almonacid, Eduardo F. Fernandez
As part of the effort on soiling, the team at the University of Jaen is working to extract the soiling losses from the sites available on the PearlPV dataset, using standard and novel soiling extraction techniques. The work of the team is currently focused on building a model to automatically calculate the performance index and the soiling ratio of the systems, by integrating the PV power data and various climatic data available on public repositories.
Also, a prototype of DUSST, a low-maintenance and low-cost soiling detector conceived and developed by the University of Jaen in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA), is being installed on one of the roofs of the university. The comparison of the DUSST measurements with the data collected by an Atonometrics soiling station and the performance of PV modules of various technologies installed on the same roof will make it possible to validate the prototype in a high-insolation region such as Southern Spain.
—
TASK PearlFault: Fault detection for PV system fleets using machine learning
Fault detection for PV system fleets using machine learning; Andreas Livera, Marios Theristis, Jonathan Leloux
Application of machine learning on a comparison of the PV data from a benchmark of neighbouring PV systems
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POTENTIAL FUTURE TASK: PV in the context of smart-grids and self-consumption
PV in the context of smart-grids and self-consumption; Cihan Gercek, Luis Fialho, Brian Azzopardi, Karl Knobl
Exact scope still to be defined.
—
POTENTIAL FUTURE TASK: Spatio-temporal forecasting and PV monitoring
Spatio-temporal forecasting and PV monitoring; Rodrigo Amaro e Silva, Miguel Centeno Brito, Jonathan Leloux
Integration of spatially distributed solar times series in forecasting and performance monitoring applications.
—
POTENTIAL FUTURE TASK: PV degradation vs stress factors (temp, RH%, UV, etc)
PV degradation vs stress factors (temp, RH%, UV, etc); Sascha Lindig, David Moser, Jonathan Leloux
Degradation assessment using PVlib. Switch in paradigm from assessing a limited amount of data of high quality (typically lab data) to assessing a very large amount of data of lower quality (monitoring data).
—
POTENTIAL FUTURE TASK: Monitoring data filtering and Quality Control (QC)
Monitoring data filtering and Quality Control (QC); Jonathan Leloux, Penka Georgieva, Zlatica Marinkovic, Sascha Lindig
Quality Control on metadata: azimuth, tilt and peak power of PV systems,…
Different approaches: physical modelling, cost function, pattern recognition, ANN.
—
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-reviewed scientific papers (7)
- Fernández-Solas A., Micheli L., Almonacid F., Fernández E.F., Optical degradation impact on the spectral performance of photovoltaic technology, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 141,
- 2021, 110782, ISSN 1364-0321, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.110782.
- Smestad, G.P.; Germer, T.A.; Alrashidi, H.; Fernández, E.F.; Dey, S.; Brahma, H.; Sarmah, N.; Ghosh, A.; Sellami, N.; Hassan, I.A.I.; Desouky, M.; Kasry, A.; Pesala, B.; Sundaram, S.; Almonacid, F.; Reddy, K.S.; Mallick, T.K.; Micheli, L. (2020), Modelling photovoltaic soiling losses through optical characterization, Scientific Reports, 10, 58.
- Micheli L; Fernández E.F.; Muller M.; Smestad G.P.; Almonacid F.; Selection of optimal wavelengths for optical soiling modelling and detection in photovoltaic modules (2020), Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Volume 212, 110539, ISSN 0927 0248.
- Fernández-Solas, A.; Micheli, L.; Muller, M.; Almonacid, F.; Fernández, E.F. (2020), Design, characterization and indoor validation of the optical soiling detector “DUSST”, Solar Energy, Volume 211, pp. 1459-1468.
- Leloux, J.; Narvarte, L.; Desportes, A.; Trebosc, D. (2020), Performance to Peers (P2P): A benchmark approach to fault detections applied to photovoltaic system fleets. Solar Energy, Vol. 202, pp. 522-539.
- Micheli, L; Caballero, J.A.; Fernandez, E.F.; Smestad, G.P.; Nofuentes, G.; Mallick, T.K.; Almonacid, F. (2019), Correlating photovoltaic soiling losses to waveband and single-value transmittance measurements, Energy, Volume 180, 2019, pp. 376-386.
- Robledo J.; Leloux, J.; Lorenzo, E.; Gueymard, C.A. (2019), From video games to solar energy: 3D shading simulation for PV using GPU, Jesús Robledo, Solar Energy, Volume 193, 2019, pp. 962-980.
International conferences (3)
- Lindig S.; Ascencio-Vásquez J.; Leloux J.; Moser D.; Topič M.; Climate related dependence of performance losses of over (3,500) PV systems (2020), in Proceedings of EU PVSEC-37.
- Fernández-Solas, A.; Micheli, L.; Muller, M.; Almonacid, F.; Fernández, E.F. (2020), Novel Model to Estimate Transmittance Soiling Losses Using DUSST, an Innovative Soiling Sensor, in Proceedings of EU PVSEC-37.
- Livera, L.; Theristis, M; Makrides, G.; Sutterlueti, J.; Ransome, S.; Georghiou, G.E. (2019), Performance analysis of mechanistic and machine learning models for photovoltaic energy yield prediction, in Proceedings of EU PVSEC-36.
Workshops (1)
- Theristis M.; Senabre C.; Gómez E.; Pinto S.; Fialho L.; Muñoz E.; Leloux J.; EU COST Action PEARL PV, Performance and Reliability of Photovoltaic Systems: Evaluations of Large Scale Monitoring Data, WG5: PV in grids, PV Reliability Workshop, NREL/SNL/BNL, Albuquerque, 2018.
CONTACTS (Working Group 5 Leaders)
Chair of Working Group 5
Jonathan Leloux
Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain
E-mail: jonathan.leloux@upm.es
www: Jonathan Leloux at ResearchGate
Vice chair of Working Group 5
Sonia Pinto
University of Lisbon, Portugal
E-mail: soniafp@tecnico.ulisboa.pt
www: Sonia Pinto at ResearchGate