OPTIMAL SOLAR CABLE SELECTION FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

This paper presents a novel method for selecting optimal solar cable capacity for grid-connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems. The optimization method proposed in this paper is formulated that takes into consideration the cost of losses and solar cable investment cost throughout the technical lifespan of the cable. In addition, the effect of using actual field data of different time resolution irradiation data on the calculation of energy losses are also presented and discussed in this paper. The key findings of the paper suggest that oversizing the solar cable for PV system plays an important role in losses reduction and at the same time provide monetary savings in the long run