Integration of Photovoltaic Generation Within a Modeling Framework for Energy Hubs

Abstract

Energy efficiency is a topic with many publications related to resource exploitation at a local scale; via well-performed energy management, substantial environmental and economic benefits can be achieved. In this article, the models used to forecast the photovoltaic power yield in two distinct facilities are described. These facilities are part of the same production plant, which makes use of different heterogeneous resources (carbon dioxide, water, thermal energy, and electricity) and has already been analyzed in a problem that consists in finding the set of variables that minimize the operation cost. In order to predict the power production for both photovoltaic fields, the expressions for radiation on sloped surfaces and the equivalent circuit for solar cells are employed, and the inverters and wire-transmission loss effects are considered. Furthermore, their integration within a general-purpose modeling framework for energy hubs is demonstrated. The comparison between validation results and production real data shows that despite the slight overestimation of the energy yield, the models are suitable to forecast the production of both facilities with a suitable accuracy, as the R 2 coefficients of both facilities lie between 0.95 and 0.96.