Performance monitoring of photovoltaic power generation using a reference power prediction model

A system, comprising:

• a memory storing instructions;
• one or more communication interfaces;
• and
• one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory via the one or more communication interfaces, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured by the instructions to:
• receive a plurality of environmental data pertaining to a specific geographical location where a photovoltaic (PV) power generation unit is deployed using one or more data sources, and a plurality of operational data from the PV generation unit, wherein the plurality of environmental data comprises at least one of (i) a first set of environmental data and (ii) a second set of environmental data;
• preprocess the plurality of environmental data and the plurality of operational data using one or more preprocessing techniques to obtain a plurality of preprocessed data, wherein step of preprocessing helps in filtering, synchronizing, and resampling (i) the plurality of environmental data and (ii) the plurality of operational data by identifying and eliminating a plurality of erroneous data from the plurality of environmental data and the plurality of operational data;
• perform, based on a status indicative of a presence of the first set of environmental data, one of:
• (i) obtaining (a) a clean reference PV power data from the plurality of operational data received from the PV generation unit and (b) a reference global tilted irradiance (GTI) value, wherein the reference GTI value is estimated using a power prediction model and the clean reference PV power;
• and
• (ii) predicting a clean reference PV power generated when the PV generation unit operates at its full potential by inputting the plurality of preprocessed data to the power prediction model;
• compute a uniform value of a performance index for the PV generation unit using a performance ratio for a predefined duration using an optimization framework, wherein the performance ratio represents a ratio of at least one of:
• (i) an actual power generated to the clean reference PV power by the PV generation unit, (ii) an effective GTI value to the reference GTI value, and (iii) an effective GTI value to a measured GTI value, wherein the performance index is used to quantify a plurality of degradation based losses occurring in the PV generation unit, wherein the effective GTI value is computed using the power prediction model and the actual power generated by the PV generation unit;
• and
• identify a rising pattern and a dropping pattern of the performance index for real time monitoring of the PV power generation unit.

One or more non-transitory machine-readable information storage mediums comprising one or more instructions which when executed by one or more hardware processors cause:

• receiving a plurality of environmental data pertaining to a specific geographical location where a photovoltaic (PV) power generation unit is deployed using one or more data sources, and a plurality of operational data from the PV generation unit, wherein the plurality of environmental data comprises at least one of (i) a first set of environmental data and (ii) a second set of environmental data;
• preprocessing the plurality of environmental data and the plurality of operational data using one or more preprocessing techniques to obtain a plurality of preprocessed data, wherein step of preprocessing helps in filtering, synchronizing, and resampling (i) the plurality of environmental data and (ii) the plurality of operational data by identifying and eliminating a plurality of erroneous data from the plurality of environmental data and the plurality of operational data;
• performing, based on a status indicative of a presence of the first set of environmental data, one of:
• (i) obtaining (a) a clean reference PV power data from the plurality of operational data received from the PV generation unit and (b) a reference global tilted irradiance (GTI) value, wherein the reference GTI value is estimated using a power prediction model and the clean reference PV power;
• and
• (ii) predicting a clean reference PV power generated when the PV generation unit operates at its full potential by inputting the plurality of preprocessed data to the power prediction model;
• computing a uniform value of a performance index for the PV generation unit using a performance ratio for a predefined duration using an optimization framework, wherein the performance ratio represents a ratio of at least one of:
• (i) an actual power generated to the clean reference PV power by the PV generation unit, (ii) an effective GTI value to the reference GTI value, and (iii) an effective GTI value to a measured GTI value, wherein the performance index is used to quantify a plurality of degradation based losses occurring in the PV generation unit, wherein the effective GTI value is computed using the power prediction model and the actual power generated by the PV generation unit;
• and
• identifying a rising pattern and a dropping pattern of the performance index for real time monitoring of the PV power generation unit.