Propose a comparison method of the PV variability based on roof-top PV solar data of Australia

Abstract

© 2018 International Journal of Renewable Energy Research. The use of renewable sources of energy is rising in Australia, and with solar energy becoming the most dominant; the solar (PV) roof-top plant penetration in the electrical energy distribution grid is increasing. As Australia is the sixth largest country in the world consisting of a diverse range of climates, this may be a concern to Distribution Service Operators (DSOs) as the variability in PV power output in different areas, climates/weather and even time of day. This means that DSOs are required to quantify these 'uncertainties' for different zones in Australia to aid in the energy planning. This paper will examine PV variability metrics to identify suitable PV variable metric based on purpose of application and propose a method to compare PV variability of large cities in Australia based on historical roof-top PV solar data. This proposed method examined variability metrics and find out suitable variability metric based on purpose of application. The comparative study shows that the PV variability and the amount of smoothing are not equal at all the distribution area in Australia and varies with geographical climatic scenario