Abstract This study evaluated the outcome differences when adopting five different solar irradiation databases on the sizing of hybrid solar photovoltaic-diesel generators designed to supply electricity to isolated minigrids. To do this, the two most widely adopted photovoltaic (PV) simulation packages in the market, namely PVsyst® and HOMER Energy® were used. The different origins, data timespan, space and time resolution, of the five most relevant solar irradiation databases available for the region were compared. A case study was presented to illustrate the influences of the solar irradiation database and the solar simulation tool on the resulting PV generator. Furthermore, the hourly behavior of the energy supply to an existing load in a minigrid in the Brazilian Amazon was evaluated, together with the savings in diesel obtained with the resulting PV generator. Evaluating the five options of solar radiation databases, for the same PV plant configuration, variations of up to 19.7% were found in the expectation of PV generation. When the simulation software package was varied, the combined effect (radiation database X PV system sizing tool) showed differences of up to 20.6%. This demonstrates that despite having different algorithms, computational tools have a small influence (less than 1%) on results. These combined differences, taking into account the load curve behavior and the total diesel generation capacity installed at the site, resulted in over 100% differences in the optimum PV generator size in the case study. The total savings in diesel fuel, over a 15-years period, ranged from $ 6.5 million to over $ 16 million (>2.5 times) for the smallest PV system. This demonstrates the importance of the correct choice of database. These evaluations can be extended to minigrids of any size elsewhere. The novelty and originality of this study is to demonstrate and quantify for the first time the influence of the solar radiation database and the PV simulator package on the sizing of PV-diesel generators. The consequences of this study are not only of scientific and academic importance, but of economic and commercial interest as well.

中文翻译：

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太阳辐射数据库和光伏模拟器对光伏柴油发电机的规模和经济性的影响

摘要 本研究评估了采用五种不同的太阳辐照数据库来确定混合太阳能光伏 - 柴油发电机的大小时的结果差异，该发电机旨在为孤立的微型电网供电。为此，使用了市场上两种最广泛采用的光伏 (PV) 模拟包，即 PVsyst® 和 HOMER Energy®。比较了该地区可用的五个最相关的太阳辐射数据库的不同来源、数据时间跨度、空间和时间分辨率。提供了一个案例研究来说明太阳辐射数据库和太阳模拟工具对最终光伏发电机的影响。此外，还评估了巴西亚马逊小型电网中现有负载的每小时能源供应行为，以及由此产生的光伏发电机所节省的柴油。评估太阳辐射数据库的五个选项，对于相同的光伏电站配置，发现光伏发电的预期变化高达 19.7%。当仿真软件包变化时，综合效果（辐射数据库 X 光伏系统选型工具）显示出高达 20.6% 的差异。这表明尽管有不同的算法，但计算工具对结果的影响很小（小于 1%）。考虑到负载曲线行为和现场安装的总柴油发电能力，这些综合差异导致案例研究中最佳光伏发电机尺寸的差异超过 100%。在 15 年的时间里，柴油燃料的总节省从 650 万美元到超过 1600 万美元不等 (> 2.5 倍）用于最小的光伏系统。这说明了正确选择数据库的重要性。这些评估可以扩展到其他地方的任何规模的微型电网。本研究的新颖性和独创性是首次论证和量化太阳辐射数据库和光伏模拟器包对光伏柴油发电机选型的影响。这项研究的结果不仅具有科学和学术重要性，而且还具有经济和商业利益。本研究的新颖性和独创性是首次论证和量化太阳辐射数据库和光伏模拟器包对光伏柴油发电机选型的影响。这项研究的结果不仅具有科学和学术重要性，而且还具有经济和商业利益。本研究的新颖性和独创性是首次论证和量化太阳辐射数据库和光伏模拟器包对光伏柴油发电机选型的影响。这项研究的结果不仅具有科学和学术重要性，而且还具有经济和商业利益。