Temporal load resolution impact on PV/grid system energy flows

In this paper, an investigation of the electrical load temporal resolution on the PV/Grid energy system flows, and self-consumption is done in order to determine the optimum parameters for modelling and simulation. The analysed PV/Grid power systems include a photovoltaic system with the nominal power of P max@STC =1.5, 2.5, 3.5 kW without storage unit connected to the grid. The results show that the temporal load resolution may have a high impact on energy flows as well as can be a critical issue for the system analysis accuracy even for the single household. It has been found that the load temporal resolution for energy consumption of 1-min yields reliable results, while data resolutions of 5 and 15 min are still sufficient, however, in that case, the daily electrical energy flows and in consequence energy self-consumption estimation error for selected days may exceed 15%. Acquisition time step longer than 15-minutes may increase error above 20% and from the designer’s point of view should not be used. The high and low temporal resolution experimental data of the electricity consumption (load) for a household are available in digital form on the author’s website http://home.agh.edu.pl/jaszczur.