Assessing the Effect of Shading on Centralized and Decentralized Large Scale Stand-alone PV Power Plant Feeding Industrial Area in Egypt

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of shading on a centralized and decentralized designs of a large-scale (1MW) stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system feeding actual loads in Egypt. The effect of various levels of shading on such large PV power plant characteristics is investigated. So, in this research, many considerations are considered in the design of centralized and decentralized PV power stations, such as the irradiation change, site, and load. The paper studies these factors and their effect on the power produced from centralized and decentralized photovoltaic power stations and storage systems. In this study, strategies and methods are proposed for dividing the centralized photovoltaic power station into decentralized groups. The benefits of these strategies and methods are the reduction of both losses and stresses on the storage system and improvement the performance of the station in general. The performance analysis of both the centralized and decentralized PV power plants is investigated in this paper. The performances of both the centralized and decentralized PV power plants are simulated by MATLAB/SIMULINK package. The impact of the partial shadowing on the PV power plants is also investigated by MATLAB.