Energy performance of a 1.2 MWp photovoltaic system distributed over nine buildings at Utrecht University campus

A distributed PV system comprising of eight subsystems on separate buildings totaling an installed capacity of 1.2 MWp has been realized at buildings of the Utrecht University campus Utrecht Science Park. A detailed design process was followed taking into account the presence of surrounding buildings. This has lead to a system with modules oriented South, West, East, and even North. Most of the modules are installed at a tilt of 10 degrees. A full year of monitoring results is presented here and shows that the system is performing well, with an average performance ratio of 0.825, thus delivering more than 1 million kWh annually.