• OUTLINE
• 1. Weather and Design
  • Sun Position
    • Solar Position Algorithm (SPA)
    • Basic Solar Position Models
    • Sandia’s Ephemeris Model
  • Irradiance & Insolation
    • Characterization of Irradiance Variability
      • Interannual variability
      • Short-term variability
      • Spatial variability
    • Extraterrestrial radiation
    • Air Mass
    • Direct Normal Irradiance
      • Piecewise Decomposition Models
      • DIRINT Model
    • Global Horizontal Irradiance
    • Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance
    • Spectral Content
      • AM 1.5 Standard Spectrum
    • Weather Data Sources for Performance Modeling
      • National Solar Radiation Database
      • Spectral irradiance dataset from Albuquerque
  • Weather Observations
    • Air Temperature
    • Wind Speed and Direction
    • Precipitation
    • Air Pressure
  • Array Orientation
    • Fixed tilt
    • Single Axis Tracking
    • Two-Axis Tracking
    • Array Orientation Errors
      • Effect of Array Tilt Errors
      • Effect of Array Azimuth Errors
  • Plane of Array (POA) Irradiance
    • Calculating POA Irradiance
      • POA Beam
      • Angle of Incidence
      • POA Ground Reflected
        • Albedo
      • POA Sky Diffuse
        • Isotropic Sky Diffuse Model
        • Simple Sandia Sky Diffuse Model
        • Hay and Davies Sky Diffuse Model
        • Reindl Sky Diffuse Model
        • Perez Sky Diffuse Model
  • Shading, Soiling, and Reflection Losses
    • Incident Angle Reflection Losses
      • Physical IAM Model
      • ASHRAE IAM Model
      • Martin and Ruiz IAM Model
        • Soiling effects on Incident Angle Losses
      • Sandia IAM Model
  • Satellite Derived Data
• 2. DC Module IV Characteristics
  • Module Temperature
    • Sandia Module Temperature Model
    • Faiman Module Temperature Model
  • Cell Temperature
    • Sandia Cell Temperature Model
    • PVsyst Cell Temperature Model
  • Effective Irradiance
    • Spectral Mismatch Models
    • Spectral Response
  • Single Diode Equivalent Circuit Models
    • De Soto “Five-Parameter” Module Model
    • PVsyst Module Model
  • Point-value models
    • Sandia PV Array Performance Model
    • Loss Factor Model
    • PVWatts
      • Improvements to PVWatts
• 3. DC Array IV
  • Mismatch Losses
  • DC Component Health
  • DC Wiring Losses
  • Array Utilization
• 4. DC to AC Conversion
  • CEC Inverter Test Protocol
  • Operating Temperature
  • Sandia Inverter Model
  • Driesse Inverter Model
  • Inverter Saturation or “Clipping”
  • Loss of Grid
  • Advanced Inverter Features
• 5. AC System Output
  • AC Wiring Losses
  • PV Performance Metrics
    • Performance Ratio
    • Normalized Efficiency
    • Performance Index
    • Annual Yield
  • PV System Output Metrics