Simulation of the impact of moving clouds on large scale PV-plants

A tool for the impact of moving clouds on the power production large scale PV plants has been developed. Focus is on the comparison of different inverter topologies (string vs. central) under real time weather conditions. The effect of a given clouding situation can be simulated and the resulting available DC output power and maximum power point variation, as well as the resulting AC production during passage can be analyzed for a range of representative clouding situations. The developed model include PV plant surface topology (individual panel orientation), irradiation level, panel temperatures, panel mismatch and inverter efficiency characteristics.