Sandia National Laboratories is facilitating a collaborative group of photovoltaic (PV) professionals (PV Performance Modeling Collaborative or PVPMC). This group is interested in improving the accuracy and technical rigor of PV performance models and analyses. Such models are used to evaluate current performance (performance index) and determine the future value of PV generation projects (expressed as the predicted energy yield) and, by extension, influence how PV projects and technologies are perceived by the financial community in terms of investment risk.
Greater confidence in the accuracy of performance models will lead to lower financing costs and an increase in the number of projects that are built. The PVPMC provides a collaborative venue for working towards these goals.
The Goal is to assemble and organize the most complete, transparent, and accurate set of information about PV system performance modeling.
Main content is :
- Modeling steps for photovoltaic energy computation
- PV research projects (bifacial and PV lifetime)
- Application and tools (PV_LIB Toolbox, GridPV, and other tools)
Sandia National Laboratories is facilitating a collaborative group of photovoltaic (PV) professionals.
Users have access to all content, including the document library and downloads for PV_LIB Toolbox, GridPV, and other tools.
Sandia plans to compile a textbook on PV performance modeling. All contributors will be acknowledged.
PV_LIB Toolbox
The PV_LIB Toolbox provides a set of well-documented functions for simulating the performance of photovoltaic energy systems. The toolbox was developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The toolbox is available in Matlab and Python versions.
Download PV_LIB Toolbox ...GridPV Toolbox
GridPV Toolbox is a well-documented tool for Matlab that can be used to build distribution grid performance models using OpenDSS. Simulations with this tool can be used to evaluate the impact of solar energy on the distribution system. The majority of the functions are useful for interfacing OpenDSS and Matlab, and they are of generic use for commanding OpenDSS from Matlab and retrieving information from simulations.
A set of functions is also included for modeling PV plant output and setting up the PV plant in the OpenDSS simulation. The toolbox contains functions for modeling the OpenDSS distribution feeder on satellite images with GPS coordinates.
The toolbox was developed at Georgia Tech and Sandia National Laboratories.
