PV-Obs

Photovoltaics Observatory

Publieke samenvatting / Public summary

Aanleiding
With the continuous increase in the amount of PV systems in the Netherlands it is highly relevant for maintaining electricity grid balance and security of supply to know where these systems are located, what their capacity is and how much energy they generate. Such an overview is missing at present.

Doelstelling
The objective of this project is to investigate how to best set-up a system in which performance data of all Dutch PV systems is collected. Such a national data base, the PV Observatory, will include spatially resolved system meta data (capacity, orientation, tilt) and power/energy data.

Korte omschrijving
After a preparatory phase in which a proper data structure will be defined, data of PV systems will be collected in two phases. In the first phase a limited amount of PV systems and their performance data will be used to test the functionality of the data structure and to design big data analytics procedures of PV energy yield and best options for visualization of that. The second phase will comprise of collecting much more data such that proper statistical methods can be applied. Collection and analysis will mostly be done by UU and SunData. Issues regarding privacy and use of data as well as potential business cases will be addressed by SunData, CBS, and Dutch New Energy, while statistical analysis will predominantly be performed by CBS.

Resultaat
At the end of the project, an operational data structure is available, as well as a blueprint for further upscaling and a business plan for that. Analysis of data in the first and second phase will show the present performance of PV systems in the Netherlands, based on actual measured data instead of calculations.