Impact assessment of short-term variability of solar radiation in Rajasthan using SRRA data. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tripathy, Sujit Kumar; Mitra, Indradip; Heinemann, Detlev; Giridhar, Godugunur; Gomathinayagam, S.
• Is Part Of: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews. Volume 78(2017)
• Page Start: 798
• Page End: 806
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: Short-term temporal variability -- Spatial smoothing -- PV power ramps; Renewable energy sources -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; Énergies renouvelables -- Périodiques; Ressources énergétiques -- Périodiques; 333.794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1364-0321

Abstract

Abstract: Short-term solar variability is a very important topic, pertaining to the issue of large-scale integration of solar energy into the electric power system. A thorough analysis of this variability aspect can lead to better management, operation, and control of the electrical grid with high penetration from solar power. This topic is quite relevant for India, where a target of 100 GW of installed solar capacity by the year 2022, exists. In the state of Rajasthan alone, a solar power capacity of around 5.8 GW is aimed to be achieved by that time. This work introduces the concept of short term solar resource variability in general and focusses on its' quantification and impact in Rajasthan in particular. For the first time, such an attempt has been made for any state in India by using ground-measured global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI) datasets, recorded at ten time-synchronized solar radiation resource assessment (SRRA) sites in Rajasthan. Also, the effect of spatial smoothing and its' role in minimizing the fluctuations induced by solar variability is investigated in detail. The methodologies, employed during the study, include the calculation of clear sky indexes of GHI and of its' DNI component, the computation of site-pair correlation parameters for GHI, DNI variability analysis, the evaluation of 'Percentage change in generation' and 'Diversity Filter' parameters to observe and quantify Dispersion-Smoothing effect. Results suggest that the site-pair correlation is an important parameter to calculate for the estimation of solar power variability. The paper also presents that the event of spatial smoothing results in suppression of minimum 60% percentage of PV power variability in Rajasthan for time intervals ranging from 1 min to 15 min. Conclusively, the study shows that in Rajasthan, considerable smoothing exists, which can support large-scale integration of solar power into electricity networks.