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Spatial power fluctuation correlations in urban rooftop photovoltaic systems
Author(s) -
Elsinga Boudewijn,
Sark Wilfried
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.2539
Subject(s) - decorrelation , photovoltaic system , spatial variability , scale (ratio) , environmental science , meteorology , standard deviation , exponential function , spatial dependence , spatial correlation , spatial ecology , statistics , mathematics , atmospheric sciences , physics , geography , cartography , engineering , electrical engineering , mathematical analysis , ecology , biology
In this paper, we investigate the spatial dependence of variations in power output of small residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in a densely populated urban area (≈100km 2 ) in and around Utrecht, the Netherlands. Research into the geo‐statistical behavior of this kind of randomly spaced collection of PV systems is complementary to other studies in the field of compact regularly spaced MW‐scale PV plants. Fluctuations in power output between PV systems are correlated up to a certain decorrelation length. Decorrelation is reached (within 1 − e −3 ≈95 % ) in an exponential model and the spatial scale ranges from 100 m to approx. 15 km, with a mean value 0.34(±0.2), 2.6(±0.3), and 5.0(±0.5) km for measurement time step of the time series of respectively 1, 5, and 15 min. These length scales are typical for an urban environment and is important for reduction of variability in aggregated output variability of PV systems. Furthermore, the distance‐independent variability still itself was found to be strictly linearly dependent on daily mean variability values. This is a good validation of the decorrelation of inter‐system ramp rate correlation over distances longer than the characteristic decorrelation length. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.