RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Analysis and Prediction of Energy Production in Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) Installations A1 Gómez Gil, Francisco Javier A1 Xiaoting, Wang A1 Barnett, Allen K1 concentrating photovoltaics K1 CPV K1 energy production K1 prediction K1 analysis K1 Ingeniería mecánica K1 Mechanical engineering AB A method for the prediction of Energy Production (EP) in ConcentratingPhotovoltaic (CPV) installations is examined in this study. It presents a new method thatpredicts EP by using Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI) and the PhotovoltaicGeographical Information System (PVGIS) database, instead of Direct Normal Irradiation(DNI) data, which are rarely recorded at most locations. EP at four Spanish CPVinstallations is analyzed: two are based on silicon solar cells and the other two onmulti-junction III-V solar cells. The real EP is compared with the predicted EP. Twomethods for EP prediction are presented. In the first preliminary method, a monthlyPerformance Ratio (PR) is used as an arbitrary constant value (75%) and an estimation ofthe DNI. The DNI estimation is obtained from GHI measurements and the PVGISdatabase. In the second method, a lineal model is proposed for the first time in this paper toobtain the predicted EP from the estimated DNI. This lineal model is the regression linethat correlates the real monthly EP and the estimated DNI in 2009. This new methodimplies that the monthly PR is variable. Using the new method, the difference between thepredicted and the real EP values is less than 2% for the annual EP and is in the range of5.6%–16.1% for the monthly EP. The method that uses the variable monthly PR allows theprediction of the EP with reasonable accuracy. It is therefore possible to predict the CPVEP for any location, using only widely available GHI data and the PVGIS database. PB MDPI SN 1996-1073 YR 2012 FD 2012-03 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/4374 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/4374 LA eng DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos RD 25-abr-2024