Engineering Commons^™

Performance Loss Rate And Temperature Modeling In Predictive Energy Yield Programs For Utility-Scale Solar Power Plants, Katelynn M. Dinius

Master's Theses

The Gold Tree Solar Farm, designed by REC Solar, has a rated output power of 4.5 MW and began operation in 2018 to provide electricity to Cal Poly’s campus. Gold Tree Solar Farm site terrain consists of rolling hills and uneven slopes. The uneven typography results in interrow shading, requiring a modified tracking control algorithm to maximize power production. Predicting a utility solar field’s lifetime energy yield is a critical step in assessing project feasibility and calculating project revenue. The MATLAB-based predictive power model developed for this field overpredicted power in the middle of the day. The purpose of this …

Hybrid Ac/Dc House, Vinh Q. Tran, Casey Winans, Erin O'Rourke

Electrical Engineering

The Hybrid AC/DC house is a proof of concept implementing a DC bus in residential power systems. The implementation of the DC bus is motivated by efficiency through a direct path for DC sources and loads. The avoidance of DC-to-AC and AC-to-DC conversions used in typical residential systems especially those with DC sources such as solar panels could experience higher efficiencies through only DC-to-DC conversions between the sources and the loads.

Solar Photovoltaic Iv Curve Tracer, Jonathan W. Skelly

Electrical Engineering

The Solar Photovoltaic Current-Voltage (IV) Curve Tracer, sponsored by Cal Poly Professor Dale Dolan, characterizes solar array current vs. voltage curves for any given temperature and irradiance. The curve tracer is battery powered, and functions autonomously across loading conditions from short circuit to open load on any sub-450-watt solar array. The curve tracer supports separate data logging modes for both single cells and single modules to maximize data accuracy for each. For testing full strings of solar panels, up to 10 IV curves may be stored in persistent EEPROM memory. Stored data may be recalled later for output to a …

An Examination Of Grid Stability As It Relates To The Increased Integration Of Inverter-Based Resources, Daniel Voss

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is currently a growing interest in increasing the amount of renewable energy resources connected to the bulk electric system (BES) that stems from various environmental, political, and social concerns. However, the differences between conventional generation resources and inverter-based resources (IBR)—namely wind and solar—pose new issues that make this increased integration a larger problem. In other studies, the increased penetration of renewable energy resources has resulted in weak-grid systems that are more susceptible to collapse. This comes as a result from the inability for IBRs to effectively provide enough reactive power, an effect especially apparent during fault conditions, which the …

Performance And Economics Of Solar Inverters And Module Level Power Electronics In A 1 Mw Photovoltaic System, Maxwell Criswell

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Photovoltaic solar panels convert sunlight to electricity in the form of direct current; therefore, a necessary component of every photovoltaic system is an inverter to convert the electricity to usable alternating current. There are various commercially available inverter technologies manufactured today such as microinverters, string inverters, and central inverters, as well as module level power electronic devices such as DC optimizers that are capable of improving system performance in string and central inverter systems. This thesis compares the performance and economics of five different inverter and module level power electronic systems through model simulation using Helioscope software. The five alternatives …

Solar Soiling Mitigation, Claire Desmith

Electrical Engineering

This senior project aims to mitigate performance losses that occur in Photovoltaic (PV) systems due to soiling of the panels. Soiling is the natural occurrence of debris accumulation on panels, depending on local climate conditions. Soiling loss refers to efficiency lost due to dirt and dust accumulation on the panels. The debris reduces system output by shading on a smaller scale. In addition to uniform soiling, corner soiling is observed in framed modules as debris collects in the corners of the modules. While solutions currently exist to clean modules to mitigate soiling losses, these solutions are often expensive and time …

Exploring Renewable Energy Futures In Humboldt County Consistent With The Goals Of California’S Renewable Portfolio Standard, Amin M. Younes

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Humboldt County has abundant wind, solar, and biomass resources, but has made limited progress towards the state’s 2045 requirement of 100% clean electricity. A recently rejected onshore wind project showed that technically and economically viable projects can fall to social and political challenges, emphasizing the need for social considerations in renewable transitions. I therefore integrated community members’ preferences into modeling of RPS-consistent renewable energy scenarios in Humboldt County. My model suggests that offshore wind, utility-scale solar, distributed solar, and biomass power are technically and economically viable sources of significant local generation at varying costs.

In interviews with energy-engaged residents, I …