Lessons learnt in Saudi Arabia with Solar

PV system performance under desert

conditions

Campus Solar Roof Top

Solar Thermal

Solar PV

Campus Solar Roof Top 2MWp PV

Mono Crystalline Silicon cells (Efficiency ~18.4 %)
Simulated annual generation of 3,281 MWh
First large scale grid-connected, roof top, solar
power plant in Saudi Arabia
Special Operating conditions
Mono-crystalline performance in High
Temperature environment
9,300 modules 215 Wp modules over 11,600 m2
Saves 1,700 tonne of carbon emissions annually

KAUST - CMOR Solar Roof Top 320KW PV

320 KW Power Generation facility

1,072 300 Wp modules over

1,950 m2

KAUST - Campus Solar Roof Top 2MW PV

Campus PV Energy Generation

Megawatt Hours

2013 Building 3
PV Energy Generation (1626.3 MWh)
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

92.3

180.7
170.0
156.6
145.1
144.0
140.0137.7
129.9
116.5112.0
101.7

2012 Campus PV
Energy
Building
Generation
3

567.5
MWH
CMOR 1020
2013 Building 4
PV Energy Generation (1633.0 MWh)

200

180.9

180
Megawatt Hours

160

145.8
130.8

140

80
60
40
20
0

169.6
156.4
142.1 136.7
117.0

120
100

148.1

65 MWH

92.8

101.2

111.6

Building 4

566.9
MWH

4,393.8 Megawatt Hours of

supplemental energy has been
added to the Campus Electrical
power grid with the
implementation of the Campus
PV Energy Generation Program
in 2012
A purchased energy cost
avoidance of $175,760 over 17
months, assuming 15 Halala per
KWh

Onsite Renewable Energy (MWh) - Campus 2013

Onsite Renewable Energy (MWh) - Campus 2013
Onsite Renewable Energy - Campus 2013

Onsite Renewable Energy - Campus 2014

Onsite Renewable Energy - Campus 2015

400

362
350

340
313

300

290

293
282

274

261
250

244

259

244
235

200

147

150
124

100

January

Febuary

March

April

May

June

July

August

September October November December

PV Plant O&M in Desert Areas

Steps for Devising and O&M Plan

Analyze site location (Need for cleaning)
(Starts before system design)

Soiling rate and content

Wind, Temperature, Irradiation, Humidity
Nearby pollution (traffic, construction, industry, agricultural
activities)
System Characteristics

(e.g. roof vs. ground, size, technology, configuration, tilt,

height, trackers, surface material)
Number of arrays, meters, inverters

Evaluation of available technical support from suppliers

Steps for Devising and O&M Plan

Logistical challenges
Analyze cost of energy, contractual obligations
Warranty terms and conditions
Desired level of monitoring

Analyze cleaning frequency, cleaning method and

cost of cleaning
Resources allocation and budgeting

Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Implement Monitoring
Contingency plans

What defines a successful O&M plan

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Performance Ratio (PR)
Plant Availability
Actual Generation vs. Predicted
Energy losses
Unscheduled Outages

Optimized Cleaning Frequency and

Procedure (Manual)
Finding the optimal cleaning
frequency and method
Finding the optimal cleaning
procedure
Reduce the O&M costs of running
the system and the overall LCOE
for a faster ROI

KAUST King Abdullah

University of Science and
Technology

15

O&M Study Case KAUST 2MWp system

The operating team consists of one technician/supervisor and 4

workers

Cleaned once every 6 days

Cleaning Procedure:
The roof top is divided into 6 sections
Each day one section is cleaned,
Cleaning is done by a water hose, first cleaning round with soap
(first 6 days), and the next with water only

16

O&M Case study (2 MWp and 5 MWp)

Item

2 MWp case

5 MWp

Total Weekly system cleaning

15 hours (11,500 m2)

~45 hours (28,750 m2)

Daily cleaning hours

3 hours

8 hours

Detergent usage - glass cleaner

( biweekly)

5L/month

~8 L/month

SR100/month

SR250/Month

Water flow rate

( ~ 1 m3/hr at SR 6 /m3)

SR350/Month

SR900/Month

Wages
Worker Wage:SR3,000/month
Technician wage: SR4,000/month

SR16,000/month
4 workers/day
1 Technician

SR16,000/month

Other cleaning related costs

>SR550/month

>SR600/Month

Total monthly cost to clean

~SR17,000/month

~SR17,750/month

Yearly cleaning cost

54,400 $US

56,800 $US

Fixed O&M Cost

27.2 $US/KWp/year

11.36 $US/KWp/year

Cost per unit area

4.73 $US/m2/year

1.97 $US/m2/year

Cost Per clean

0.079 $US/m2/clean

0.033 $US/m2/clean

Same!

Other O&M related costs

Cleaning brushes and other consumables (SR500/year)
Pyranometers and instruments calibration (??)
Replacement of damaged parts (??)
Monitoring and data connectivity (SR300/Month)
Other O&M activities:
Electrical testing
Monitoring, networking and data administration

Ground maintenance
Rack, foundations, and solar equipment inspections

PV O&M
Preventative Maintenance:

Corrective Maintenance:

Panel Cleaning

On-site monitoring

Ground Management

Wildlife prevention

Incident/performance driven
(critical and non-critical)

Water Drainage

Warranty enforcement

Retro-commissioning

Data collection and

monitoring maintenance

Power conversion system

maintenance
Annual inspection may
suffice for warrantee and
insurance compliance

Predictive Maintenance
-

Spare parts

Planned equipment
replacement

Weather forecasting

O&M Costs for different Technologies

O&M Cost ($/KW/Year)

Fixed Tiled C-Si Fixed Tilt CdTe Fixed-Tilt a-Si Tilted Single-Axis Tracking c-Si Singled-Axis Tracking C-Si

Scheduled Maintenance/Cleaning

20$

25$

25$

30$

30$

2$

2$

2$

5$

5$

Inverter replacement Reserve

10$

10$

10$

10$

10$

Subtotal O&M

32$

37$

37$

45$

45$

Insurance, Property Taxes, Owner's Costs

15$

15$

15$

15$

15$

Total O&M

47$

52$

52$

60$

60$

Unscheduled Maintenance

O&M costs for different system types

70

O&M Cost ($/KW/Year)

60
50
40

Insurance, Property Taxes, Owner's Costs

30

Inverter replacement Reserve

Unscheduled Maintenance

20

Scheduled Maintenance/Cleaning
10

0
Fixed Tiled C-Si

Fixed Tilt CdTe

Fixed-Tilt a-Si

Tilted Single-Axis
Tracking c-Si

Singled-Axis
Tracking C-Si

System Type

Source: Addressing Solar PV O&M Challenges, NREL

PV Plant Monitoring

Field Performance Indicators

Efficiency = Energy out / Energy in

Device
Area
The solar resources

Maximum Power point Pmax

Performance Ratio (Actual vs. Simulated)

Specific Yield (Energy Generated/ P max)

Measurement Challenges!!

Plant Monitoring

Important for high performance

Immediate detection of plant issues

Affected by:
The atmosphere
Geographical location
Altitude

Sources of errors:
Total Irradiance
Spectral Irradiance
Spatial Uniformity

Temporal Instability
Monitoring is instrumental!

Need Continuous Measurements over extended periods of time before construction

Another way to monitor soiling

Performance degradation due to Soiling

How big is the dust problem?

Technology specific

Location specific

10-15% efficiency loss in one month of no

cleaning

5-7.5% unavoidable energy loss of power

plant

The decrease in solar energy efficiency due

to dust storms was measured to be 60%.
Dust effect on performance varies per
location and per technology
Needed models for recommended frequency
of cleaning
26

Cleaning Scheduling

Incident Driven:
Immediately after dust episodes (dust
storms, dusty weather, light rain)

Regular Cleaning

Cleaning Frequency calculation

Site Specific
Technology Specific
Plant Specific (Tilt angle, orientation)

Frequency: Every 1-3 weeks (depending

on the case)

Non-uniformity across the plant

No necessarily uniform across the

power plant

Based on cost of cleaning

Seasonal change
Cost of Energy

Accepted tolerance to loss

Effect of efficiency on Cleaning cost

Dust accumulation is a surface property
For the same peak power lower efficiency modules will require
more cleaning

Efficiency affects on LCOE:

Higher efficiency lower BOS cost (Not the scope of this study)
Higher efficiency lower O&M cost

Plant O&M Cost Optimization

Effect of Cleaning Frequency on LCOE
35

30

LCOE ($cent/Kwh)

25

20
$1
15

2$
3$

10

0
0

10

15
20
Cleaning Cycle (Days)
5MWp System

25

30

35

PV Plant LCOE Analysis

Effect of PV efficiency on Dust

Impact to LCOE

30

30

25

25

20

15

1$
2$

10

3$

LCOE ($cent/Kwh)

LCOE ($cent/Kwh)

Effect of Cleaning Cost on Plant

LCOE vs. cleaning cost for
different Capex

20

15

1$
2$

10

3$

0
0

1
2
3
Cost of Cleaning ($/m2/year)
5 MWp system, Cleaning every 6 days

% increase in O&M cost

62.5

%Increase in LCOE
9.712838

13

18
23
System Efficiency
5 MWp system, cleaned every 6 days

% Increase in Efficiency
50

% Reduction o
7.69965

30

What about Dust Storms?

60% losses were recorded after a sand storm incident
Translates to a 30% energy production loss for a week
Results in 21 MWh loss (e.g.. in case of October for the 2MWp system)
Frequency of dust storms needs to be predicted and considered
in the financial model
Plant must be cleaned directly after dust storm incident

Potential surface impurities

Dust Particles natural
Dust particles due to human activities (traffic, agricultural and
construction activities)
Salt Particulates
Pollen from Plants and traffic

Dirt from birds

Main Ingredients of Dust:

Oxide metals: SiO2, Al2O3, FeO, CaO

Carbonates: CaCO3, MgCO3
Heavy metals: Lead, Iron, Arsenic, Manganese, Vanadium,
Nickel, Chromium, etc.

PV plant Cleaning Methods

KAUST King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

33

Cleaning device (Robotic)

Emerging Dry-type cleaning/dusting robot for PV panels
Using minimal amounts of water for cleaning PV panels
Aimed for high reliability long life operation

with minimal maintenance

Reduces the O&M costs

KAUST King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

34

O&M Plan goes wrong!

35

Safety and Personnel Protective

Equipment (PPE)
Specialized killed labor is needed
Proper training should be provided
Workers should use all appropriate PPE:

Gloves
Sun caps/Helmets
Sunglasses

Face covers for blocking the sun

Anti-slip shoes
Safety Harness for working at heights

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

36

THANK YOU!
Tamer Shahin
Project Engineer
Economic and Technology Development - KAUST

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

37

References
http://nextphasesolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NREL-epri-OM-best-practices.pdf
http://alectris.com/implementing-a-successful-om-strategy-for-solar-pv-2/
http://nextphasesolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NREL-epri-OM-best-practices.pdf
http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/tech_lcoe.html
Impact of dust on solar photovoltaic (PV) Performance: Research Status, Challenges and
recommendations, Monto Mani, Rohti Pillai

On-site PV characterization and the effect of soiling on their performance, Soteris A. Kalogirou, Rafaela
Agathokleous, Gregoris Panayiotou
Best Practices for Mitigating Soiling Risk on PV Power Plants, A. AlDowsari, R. Bkayrat, H. AlZain, T.
Shahin
Effect of soiling on Photovoltaic modules, Reinhart Appels, Buvaneshwari Lefevre
Impact of cleaning using water and surfactants on the performance of Photovoltaic Panels, K.A.
Moharram, M.S. Abd-Elhady, H.A. Kandil, H. El-Sherif
Review of Self-cleaning method for solar cell array, Gaofa He, Chuande Zhou, Zelun Li
Addressing Solar PV O&M Challenges, NREL
RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE OPERATION OF LARGE SOLAR PLANTS, Solar POWERGEN 2013
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

38