RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Photovoltaic Prediction Software: Evaluation with Real Data from Northern Spain A1 González Peña, David A1 García Ruiz, Ignacio A1 Diez Mediavilla, Montserrat A1 Dieste Velasco, Mª Isabel A1 Alonso Tristán, Cristina K1 Photovoltaic K1 RETScreen K1 SAM K1 PVGIS K1 PVsyst K1 PV*SOL K1 Energy prediction K1 Ingeniería eléctrica K1 Electric engineering AB Prediction of energy production is crucial for the design and installation of PV plants. Inthis study, five free and commercial software tools to predict photovoltaic energy production areevaluated: RETScreen, Solar Advisor Model (SAM), PVGIS, PVSyst, and PV*SOL. The evaluationinvolves a comparison of monthly and annually predicted data on energy supplied to the nationalgrid with real field data collected from three real PV plants. All the systems, located in Castile andLeon (Spain), have three different tilting systems: fixed mounting, horizontal-axis tracking, anddual-axis tracking. The last 12 years of operating data, from 2008 to 2020, are used in the evaluation.Although the commercial software tools were easier to use and their installations could be describedin detail, their results were not appreciably superior. In annual global terms, the results hid poorestimations throughout the year, where overestimations were compensated by underestimatedresults. This fact was reflected in the monthly results: the software yielded overestimates duringthe colder months, while the models showed better estimates during the warmer months. In moststudies, the deviation was below 10% when the annual results were analyzed. The accuracy of thesoftware was also reduced when the complexity of the dual-axis solar tracking systems replaced thefixed installation. PB MDPI YR 2021 FD 2021-05 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/7273 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/7273 LA eng NO This research was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number RTI2018-098900-B-I00 and the Regional Government of Castilla y León under the “Support Program for Recognized Research Groups of Public Universities of Castilla y León” (ORDEN EDU/667/2019) and “Health and Safety Program” (INVESTUN/19/BU/0004). DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos RD 25-abr-2024