As the country turns to renewable energy sources to meet energy demands, it is necessary to establish a database that accurately evaluates the net electrical, environmental, and economic return of local PV projects.
PGESCo built an in-house pilot PV plant that is fully monitored by state-of-the-art equipment to create the database. PGESCo engineered, constructed, commissioned and operated a 7 kWp on-grid PV system which consisted of the following:
Twenty four (24) Trina 295Wp poly-crystalline modules.
Steca grid 8000+ 3ph transformer-less inverter.
Web-Log 500 remote monitoring system.
DC cables, combiner boxes and mounting system.
PGESC’s PV pilot plant covers an area of 60 m2 and outputs 7.08 kWp of power.
The kWh energy generation, yield data and CO2 saving can be monitored via:
http://public.solarmonitoring.net/dashboard/system/R1YZP/B9mk5dx3zS
Hands-on Operation and Maintenance Practices and Experiences
In order to have a long term experience with PV plants operation and maintenance, PGESCo decided to carry out an experimental test to determine soiling impacts on PV plants energy yield and the optimum cycle for modules cleaning in Cairo weather. PV Array was left without cleaning as shown in the photos for three months and the monthly energy yield was closely monitored. Results showed that, by the end of second month PV plant energy yield was reduced by 20% of its modeled value for this month. By the end of third month, energy yield was reduced by 22% of its modeled value for this month (as shown in the below graph).
PGESCo has concluded that PV array cleaning could be carried out every two-three months during summer as the drop in energy yield after the second month is very minor. If it is required to keep the energy yield at its modeled value then cleaning shall be carried out on monthly basis. However, PGESCo will continue the experimental test in winter to monitor if the cleaning cycle would be changed due to weather changes in winter season.
The following link is an additional link for monitoring system:
http://www.pv-log.com/en/photovoltaicplant-pgesco-pv-system-7-kw-on-grid-1