How we can calculate the availability factor of PV in Algeria with an average electricity production 1530 kWh per year (given by GIS PV website) of 1 MW photo-voltaic power plant?
Hi Haddad,
Frankly, I don't think you can ! With this data you may be able to compute the (national average !) capacity factor, but not the availability factor.
-Sanjay
Haddad, try https://energymag.net/technologies/availability-factor/
The availability factor depends on the technology, especially for solar PV. This link estimates it at 98% and you won't do much better than that!
Availability Factor
The availability factor of a power plant is the percentage of the time that it is available to provide energy to the grid.
The availability of a plant is mostly a factor of its reliability and of the periodic maintenance it requires.
Because a plant is available, it does not mean that it can generate all of its nameplate capacity. For instance, a hydroelectric plant may be available, but it may not be possible to release all the water needed for it to reach its rated output. In the same way, in the middle of the night, an available solar photovoltaic plant will not generate any output. The same solar PV plant will not generate as much power in December as it generates in July, even if it is available.
Availability factors are not widely collected for given technologies or plants. Instead, the commonly tracked metric is the Capacity Factor, which can be measured externally.
Gas, coal, and nuclear plants carry availability factors over 80%, often around 90% or higher. Most modern wind farm availability factors top 95%, while solar PV plants reach over 98%.
PV system availability is linked to the PV system; the PV availability factor can be sized based on the budget put for such system. Increasing the storage capacity of the PV system leads to increase its availability factor (i.e. increase the percentage of time the system is available to deliver power). This will consequently increase the cost of the system due to adding more storage capacity. However, reduction in the PV availability necessitates incorporating an additional energy source (wind, diesel, etc …) to supplement the PV generation.
I Brahim,
I recommand to use the solar satellite based data base:
http://www.soda-pro.com/
You must be aware that a certain expertise is needed to extract good results from it
Good luck for your work.
Vincent
Dear Haddad Brahim,
Availability factor is corresponding to the time of operation in delivering energy. It does not count the quantity or the quality of energy instead it only considers the time of operation.
Dear Haddad Brahim,
Please refer to this article: Article Availability factor of a PV power plant: evaluation based on...
Haddad Brahim- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering