PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF THE PHOTOVOTAIC PLANT OF THE IFRN OF THE JOÃO CÂMARA CAMPUS

Abstract

This study's general objective is to propose a technical analysis of the operational performance of electrical energy generation systems from the photovoltaic plant installed on the campus of the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN) João Câmara campus. The basic premise is to provide a diagnosis, considering the specificities of the campus, of the operating conditions, substantiated through a comparison between the real annual generation of the photovoltaic plant, coming from the plant's supervisory system, extracted from the respective inverters and the simulations in software, in this case PVsyst. During the research, aspects related to the evaluation of the building's electrical energy consumption were covered, from the perspective of energy efficiency to a detailed analysis of the sizing and specification of the main equipment, devices and accessories used in photovoltaic generation plants, the namely: photovoltaic modules, control and protection devices, electrical conductors, electrical conduits, grounding, among countless other subsystems. The study was based on technical regulations and standards proposed by manufacturers and electricity concessionaires for grid-tie systems. The multidisciplinary nature of the study is highlighted, covering the areas of solar photovoltaics, energy efficiency and low voltage electrical installations. The methodology was based on the creation of informative graphics for the period from 2016 to 2022, covering the generation of the campus object of the study, carrying out computer simulations and generating non-conformity reports. The results of the computer simulations were tabulated and compared with the results of the real energy production that were collected from related inverters and we verified and compared the performance of the UFV according to its descriptive memorial.