At present the database contains high quality data of 461 monitored PV plants with an installed capacity of 12 MW adapted to various applications (power supply, domestic uses, rural electrification, professional applications). Detailed system characteristics of selected PV plants as well as monitored data are stored in the database. The new database features simplified data export to spread sheet programmes, improved filter and sort criteria to navigate in the database and an easy search for a specific PV plant. Data import and export facilities have been developed including automatic calculations of annual results. This tool can be used to check the operational behaviour of existing PV plants and to get a report on its performance expressed in standard quantities allowing any kind of cross-comparison between systems.
The implemented PV systems are located worldwide and operate therefore under different climatic conditions. Most of the monitoring data have been gathered under various national demonstration programmes in the IEA PVPS member countries: e. g. Austrian Rooftop Programme, French Rural Electrification Programme, EU Thermie Programme, German 1 000-Roofs-Photovoltaic-Programme, Japanese Sunshine & Field Test Programme and Swiss demonstration programmes. A collection of such a variety of high quality operational data can be considered as a unique tool for PV system performance analysis.
The database application can be downloaded from http://www.task2.org/database/. Updates of the collected PV system data will be downloadable from this website as well.
For more information about the database, please read PVPS performance database - A unique tool in PV Power, Issue 15, October 2001