Instituto de energía solar

The large size of PV plants and the decentralized character of PV roofs make high the cost of the control of the operation and the maintenance. With the objective of reducing the levelized cost of PV electricity, it is necessary to develop new methods to operate and to do the maintenance of this kind of PV systems.

In this framework, the PV systems group researches on new methods for the automatic detection of performance failures in PV plants and distributed grid-connected PV systems for both, to reduce the operational costs and to increase the energy yield.

As an outcome of some results of this research line, our spin-off QPV has developed and advanced system for PV plant monitoring able to automatically detect performance failures.

Contact person: Dr. Rodrigo Moreton

Selected publications

1. E. Lorenzo, R. Moretón, and I. Luque, "Dust effects on PV array performance: in-field observations with non-uniform patterns", Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 22, pp. 666-670, 2014. (DOI: 10.1002/pip.2348)
   
   
2. J. Leloux, L. Narvarte, and D. Trebosc, "Review of the performance of residential PV systems in France", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 16, pp. 1369-1376, 2012. (DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2011.10.018)
   
   
3. J. Leloux, L. Narvarte, and D. Trebosc, "Review of the performance of residential PV systems in Belgium", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 16, pp. 178-184, 2012. (DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.145)
   
   
4. F. Martínez-Moreno, J. Muñoz, and E. Lorenzo, "Experimental model to estimate shading losses on PV arrays", Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 94, pp. 2298-2303, 2010. (DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2010.07.029)