André Mermoud

An ASCII file is simply a text file. Any *.TXT, *.CSV, *.PRN and so on, opened or issued by EXCEL or Notepad. Now if you have data in monthly values, you should directly define a new site ("Tools" / "Geographical sites" / "New"). Here you define the geographical coordinates (latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Time zone) and on the second page you can "copy" the monthly data in EXCEL and "Paste" them here (necessary data: Global horizontal and Ambient temperature".

Please see the help "Project design > Results > Simulation variables ... " Some variables are not mentioned here, I have to update these pages with variables newly introduced ...

The simulation always uses the one-diode model, but at any irradiance and temperature conditions. The effectve Pmpp at STC (or nominal efficiency) is never used as such. The model doesn't rely to any "nominal" efficiency value.

For the pre-sizing part: this is a parameter specifiecd in the Hidden patrameters. For the System design part: this is indeed a result of the simulation. The hourly simulation will cut the load when attaining a given Voltage low threshold, defined in the Controller parameters, and related to the behaviour of the whole system at each time (exactly as in the reality). The DOD will depend on this threshold, and you can see it in the Hourly plots, when plotting the state of charge as function of the time. NB: In a future version I intend to deeply revise the Stand-alone systems treatement, and I will probably give the opportunity of defining a DOD as parameter for the Controller instead of a voltage threshold. However I think this strategy is not yet much implemented in real commercial controllers, as the accurate evaluation of the SOC of a battery pack by the Controller (i.e. Ah balance and real capacity evaluation) is a difficult task ...

First, I observe that your values are quite close. However I can make several comments: - A model is never the reality. Especially the one-diode model is highly non-linear. You establish it at STC (1000 W/m2 and 25°C) and at other conditions (derived from the model), with probably rounding errors in the Isc, Voc, Imp, Vmp values. Therefore this is not exactly the same model's parameters. - The true Pmpp value is not perfectly linear with the temperature: that is, muPmpp it is not constant with the temperature. This is a result of the model, and also the reality (please have a look on official measurements reports of TÜV or others if you avail). - The muGamma correction is a little "ad hoc" correction just for matching the muPmpp of the model to the specified value. In you case a discrepance of 0.04% to -0.07% is really very low. Personally, I am really surprised that the one-diode model behaves with such an accuracy in this case !!!

BIPV double glass modules behave in the same way as usual modules. I think you are talking about Bifacial modules, which are able to produce electricity from both sides of the cells/module. Please see my answer to the post Mono c-Si Bifacial modules

Yes. the limit is in the hidden parameters. In the main menu, option "Preferences" / "Edit Hidden parameters" / "Detailed Simulation Verification Conditions", topic "Shadings: Absolute maximum Shadings/Field Area ratio".

Yes of course, the sample is not sufficient. This test is meant for a one-year dataset, it compares the best days in the data with the clear day model for getting an estimation of the quality of the data (namely the solarimeter calibration). For the discrepance between data, please see the help of PVsyst: "Geographical and Meteorological data > Import from Meteorological data sources: Meteorological data comparisons".

There is no possibility of deleting components or meteo files in PVsyst. You should explicitely delete the concerned files (*.MET and *.SIT) in the folders c:\ProgramData\PVsyst\Data\Meteo\ and ...\Sites\ Please have a look on Where are stored my working data in PVsyst ?

I have heard that they had a crash disk, and that they are taking this occasion for renewing their site, running since more than 10 years...

Sorry, there is no facility for suppressing components in PVsyst. You can directly delete the concerned *.OND files in the folder C:\ProgramData\PVsyst\Data\ComposPV\Inverters\ For the data location, please see http://forum.pvsyst.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4

In your first step, you have defined: - 4 inputs (which are just the connections) - No use of MPPT. You should check "Multi-MPPT capability" and then define 3 MPPT inputs here. - Save the inverter under another name. After that you can define a sub-array with 2 MPPT inputs (2 strings) and the second one with one MPPT input, and everything should be OK.

During sizing, the maximum voltage limits are to be applied to the Voc voltage, not Vmp (voltage in open circuit at low temperature) ! If you have defined a maximum area in your sizing conditions ("Presizing Help" box), the program will check it and warn you. You can simply increase this value if it doesn't correspond to your reality, or put it at 0 for ignoring it.

We are preparing a portuguese version for the version 6. It should be available within some few weeks/months. Ground-measured irradiance data for Brazil are rather scarce. In PVsyst, the NASA-SSE and perhaps Retscreen can provide monthly data. If you can obtain data from your National Meteorological Service, PVsyst provides a tool for importing hourly values in almost any ASCII (Text) format. The future version 6 of PVsyst will give access to the full Meteonorm functionnalities for getting meteo data at any place on the earth. The kWp is the definition of the PV installed power. The energy produced with this installation (expressed in kWh or MWh) will be the result of the simulation. It is not a sizing parameter. You can use the "Presizing" part for a quick evaluation of the energy produced by a given installed power in your situation (meteo, orientation). But don't consider the yield of this Presizing part as an accurate result !!! The definitive system should be studied within the "Project design" part.

In the "Project" part, "Site and Meteo", you can redefine the project's site and associated meteo. After that you can rerun the simulation for your calculation versions. If you had saved the previous simulation, the saved version will keep its results with the preceding meteo data.

Is your logo in BMP format ? Do you see it when importing it in the "Status and Activation" window ? Does the path to this logo (or its filename) contain special characters like accents ? If everything above is ok, please send me this logo file and I will check here.

I have found the problem. It is related to the Internationalization parameters of Windows. I have corrected it in the latest version 5.63. Hoping this corrects this problem for everybody...

PVsyst doesn't avail of a model for generating hourly values of wind velocity (I really don't know how to generate such data). Therefore the values cannot be imported from Daily values ,and the reslut is 0 I could indeed envisage to put the daily value as constant over the day. I will think about this for a next version.

The 3D shadings part doesn't recognize field orientations as "different" when the angle difference between their true orientation is less than 3°. You can modify this limit of 3° in the main menu "Preferences" / "Hiden parameters" / "Detailed Simulation Verification Conditions", topic "Shadings: max orientation difference between shading planes". NB: the "true" orientation is calculated in the 3D space by the scalar product between both orientation vectors. For example, if you have 10° tilt planes with 16° azimth difference, you have an orientation difference of 3°. This value is shown in the "Orientation" dialog, label "Angle between planes". NB: With such a low difference in orientation, you can also avoid using "heterogeneous planes" and choose a single average plane (say, at 8°oriention).

You can get such specific data from the companies SolarGIS or 3Tiers. If so, you should ask for the data in the PVsyst standard format. But these data are for pay.

I don't know exactly what you are doing. PVsyst cannot treat data of less than one day. If so the missing hours of the day will be filled by zero values. But in the Comparison tool (if you are using it) it is possible that the 4-hour sample leads to a crash. Please let me know the details of your problem (screenshot of the whole screen) when the error occurs.

The Photon database web format has indeed changed in June 2012, and this change has been taken into account since the version 5.58. If you reinstall PVsyst over your old installation you don't need a new code nor transferring your license. However if you have reinstalled it in another disk you should indeed ask for a new code.

You have to redefine your inverter as a device with 5 inputs, one for each string. After that you can define a system with 2 subfields: one with 4 strings (MPPT inputs) and one with 1 string. Please see "How to use inverters with very different MPPT input like SMA tripower ?"

Please explain what doesn't work with the import of PV modules. Be aware that the PHOTON database is not perfect. Sometimes some parameters are missing, so that PVsyst is not able to use the concerned module. Please carefully read the warning when importing the module. Which browser are you using ? Currently Internet Explorer, Firefox and GoogleChrome work quite well.

Yes of course. A single silicon cell has usually a Vmpp of about 0.5-0.51V at 25°C (up to 0.57V for the special Sunpower technology). The Sunpower modules of 435 Wp have 128 cells in series.