Performance analysis of a hypothetical 1-hectare PV plant in the Benguela region. The first year of operation.

The presents study evaluates the performance of a hypothetical 1-hectare solar photovoltaic (PV) plant located in the Baia Azul Beach, in Benguela, Angola. The first year performance of the plant composed by 2,784 DuoMax 365 PV modules from Trina Solar Company was evaluated by means of the VelaSolaris Polysum software package. The total surface area of the PV modules was of 5,456.64 m2. The annual alternate current electricity production was of 1,511.70 MWh allowing a total of 710.47 tCO2 of CO2 emissions reduction and a performance ratio of 72.8 %. The annual average energy and exergy efficiencies of the PV system were respectively of of 14.3 % and 14.7 %.