Characteristics of Solar Power Generation Plant

A solar photovoltaic plant model using MAT LAB Simulink has been developed and presented in this paper. One solar module is first simulated, followed by a string of series connected modules and an array of parallel connected strings. These were initially simulated under standard testing conditions (STC) i.e. cell temperature of 25 degrees C and irradiance level of 1000 W/m(2). Furthermore, the plant was subjected to different ambient conditions, aimed at studying its I-V and P-V characteristics. Solar irradiance and temperature were varied and the dependency of the plant to each parameter is observed. The plant is then simulated using real data for Upington, South Africa. The paper further highlights future work which will be a continuation of the work presented in this paper.