Performance Study of a Grid Connected Solar PV System in Zagtouli, Burkina Faso

Abstract

The Performance study of a 1MWp Zagtouli PV system was done using meteorological, power generation, and operations data for the period 2019 through 2021. In the three years, data were analyzed for the coldest month (January), hottest month (April) and rainiest month (August). The results indicate that the reference yield was highest in January (6.39h/d), closely followed by April (6.12h/d), and August had the least (4.68h/d). The performance ratios were comparable for January and April (79.75% and (79.13%) but August had the highest value (84.48%). The study found out that both the energy and exergy efficiencies were highest in August (12.90% and 12.93% respectively) with January having slightly lower values (12.19% and 12.23% respectively) and lowest in April (11.57% and 11.62% respectively). These findings indicate that the solar PV system performs best in August, owing to the cool temperatures and the clean surface of the panels during the rainy season.