Siting PV plant focusing on the effect of local climate variables on electric energy production – Case study for Araripina and Recife

This study presents the results obtained from simulations performed in hourly scale for electric energy generation by modules of monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon and thin film technologies exposed to the climatic conditions of Recife and Araripina in the year 2006. The climatic variables considered were global solar irradiance, wind speed and ambient temperature. The value of the variables was obtained from data collected and published by the CPTEC/INPE. The simulations were performed using a software, developed by the FAE group from UFPE (Alternative Energy Sources – Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) based in an algorithm that considers the five-parameters model as the electric model of the photovoltaic module.