PVsyst Simulation Query regarding Generation Impact due to snow in Low temperature Region

[Amol Daware]

Greetings of the day..!!!

I am estimating generation for a region near Samarkand in Uzbekistan as the location is prone to snow fall and having minimum temperature of -30deg C.

Please let me know how to account loss due to snow loading on PV modules and whether is there any additional impact on generation.

Also let me know PVsyst’s recommendation on how much % loss to be considered for snow cover.

Request to suggest.

[Bruno Wittmer]

Currently there is no specific snow model in PVsyst. The recommended way to account for snow coverage, is to use the monthly soiling losses. You need to estimate these monthly values outside PVsyst, either by simply using weather data on snow coverage, or by using some more sophisticated snow coverage modeling.

You might also consider to increase the monthly albedo values in the 'Project settings' to account for increased ground reflection due to the snow cover.