Quantitative Study of Photovoltaic Arrays in the Pacific Northwest: Analyzing a Photovoltaic System in Portland Oregon

This paper describes a quantitative study conducted on the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) system at the University of Portland in Oregon. The objective of the study was to compare the performance to other PV systems in the Pacific Northwest. Data collected over a span of two years was used to determine the maximum and minimum energy production days of the year, to generate average monthly performance and annual energy plots, to observe correlation between outside temperature and the photovoltaic system performance, and to compare actual performance of the system to the expected performance. The greatest energy production day was found to be July 11, 2013 with total energy production of about 35 kWh. The minimum energy production day was found to be January 16, 2013 with total energy production of about 1 kWh. According to initial calculations and analysis, the actual performance of the photovoltaic system reaches an efficiency of around 12.3%. Expected system performance was listed at an estimated rating of 14.9%, indicating a slight reduction from expected performance. From the analysis conducted, the photovoltaic system has been found to be performing close to expectations. Continued analysis of the system will allow for further comparison to other PV systems in the Pacific Northwest.