DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR LARGE ROOF-INTEGRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAYS

This paper describes calculations and modeling used in the design of t he photovoltaic (PV) array built on the roof of the Georgia Tech Aquat ic Center, the aquatic spouts venue for the 1996 Olympic and Paralympi c Games. The software package PVFORM (version 3.3) was extensively uti lized; because of its importance to this work, if is thoroughly review ed here, procedures required to adapt PVFORM to this particular instal lation are described The expected behavior and performance of the syst em, including maximum power output, annual energy output and maximum e xpected temperature, are then presented and the use of this informatio n in making informed design decisions is described, Finally, since the orientation of the PV array is not optimal, the effect of the unoptim ized array orientation on the system's performance is quantified. (C) 1997 6y John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.