Performance study of a photovoltaic system operating on the southeastern coast of Brazil

The photovoltaic (PV) solar energy generation sector is expanding fast and achieved 23.9 GW of installed power in Brazil in the first months of 2023 (occupying the 2nd place in installed capacity in the Brazilian electricity mix). Such a scenario makes PV power generation a resource for regional development and socioeconomic opportunities for metropolitan regions with a high national economy share and population density. The present work investigated how a PV systems performance is affected when operating in a coastal area close to high atmospheric particulate and gases emitters like cargo transportation and port operational procedures. The PV system is installed at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, campus Baixada Santista in Santos/SP, close to Latin Americas largest port in trade operations. Santos is a medium-sized coastal city with a tropical climate, dry winters, and humid summers. The evaluation is based on a database including environmental and operational quantities acquired between October/2020 and September/2021 to calculate the fundamental performance metrics: performance ratio, capacity factor, reference and final yields, and system losses. The performance parameters were analogous to published results achieved by PV systems worldwide in coastal and continental areas. The PV system performance at Unifesps Building rooftop was not affected by regional climate and local atmospheric conditions related to the nearby polluting economic activities, including emissions of gases and particulates into the atmosphere. Finally, the PV system showed better performance than that simulated by the SOLergo tool regarding the generated energy, probably due to the influence of local environmental variables and careful operational maintenance not considered in the numerical simulations.