The power of photovoltaic panels fluctuates

Why does the power output of PV sources fluctuate?

The power output of PV sources fluctuates due to changes in weather conditions, rain fall, and movement of clouds. The primary reason for this fluctuation is cloud movement. Given below are some of the issues of PV output power fluctuation caused by cloud movement as reported by investigators:

Does size of PV plant affect output power fluctuations?

The output power fluctuations of a PV plant are influenced by the movement of clouds. The larger the size of the PV plant, the lower the output power fluctuations. Shorter the sampling time, the more significant the smoothing effect.

How to mitigate PV power fluctuation?

Mitigating methods for fluctuations in photovoltaic (PV) power can be compared. Energy storage devices such as batteries, capacitors, or SMES are suitable candidates for addressing this issue. Rapid changes in PV output power may induce unwanted voltage or frequency fluctuation at the point of interconnection.

How can PV output fluctuation be reduced?

PV output fluctuations, including voltage fluctuation, reverse power flow, and frequency deviation, can be reduced by complementing PV systems with rapid energy storage technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, and capacitors. Effective control is essential for these mitigation methods. A performance comparison among different methods is summarized in Table 2.

How do irradiance fluctuations affect PV power generation?

Irradiance fluctuations affect PV power generation. There are literatures that focus on reducing variability in PV power generation, such as the correlation between distance between PV inverters, wavelet time scale, and daily fluctuation, which is established for a 45.6 MW PV plant spread over 2.8 km.

How to calculate a large fluctuation of a PV Group?

The largest fluctuation of a PV Group can be calculated by applying the convolution technique to the frequency fluctuation model of individual PV stations. This reduction in output power variability is achieved by integrating many PV stations.