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The system performance factor is a measure of a photovoltaic system's annual electric generation output in AC kWh compared to its nameplate rated capacity in DC kW, taking into account the solar resource at the system's location.
Note. Solar Advisor does not calculate a system performance factor for the PVWatts photovoltaic system modeling option.
The system performance factor equation is:
Where,
FSystemPerformance
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The system performance factor.
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EOutputYear1 (AC kWh/year)
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The total annual electric generation in the first year of operation reported on the Metrics table, and in the year one column of the project cash flow.
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PSystemCapacity (DC kW)
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The system's rated capacity expressed in kilowatts displayed on the Array page. Note that the reference solar radiation used to calculate the system capacity may be different from the radiation value used to calculate the number of peak sun hours per year.
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NPeakSunHours (hours)
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Number of peak sun hours per year, or the equivalent number of hours in a year that the array receives 1,000 W/m2 of incident global solar radiation for flat-plate systems, and 850 W/m2 of direct normal radiation for concentrating photovoltaic systems.
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Note. Solar Advisor does not calculate a system performance factor for the PVWatts photovoltaic system modeling option.
The system capacity depends on technology being modeled. Note that Solar Advisor converts the capacity value to kW before using it in the calculation.
Table 40. Rated system capacity values for each technology.
Technology
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System Capacity
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Input Page
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PV SAM Performance Models
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Total Array Power (Wdc)
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Array
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PV PVWatts
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DC Rating (kW)
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PVWatts Solar Array
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CSP Parabolic Trough
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Rated Turbine Net Capacity (MWe)
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Power Block
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CSP Power Tower
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Nameplate Capacity (MWe)
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Power Cycle
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CSP Dish Stirling
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Total Capacity (kW)
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Solar Field
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Generic Fossil
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Nameplate Capacity (kWe)
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Fossil Plant
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