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The effect of n_pvrows on edge effects for pvfactors_timeseries should be documented #1398

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kandersolar opened this issue Feb 4, 2022 · 0 comments

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kandersolar commented Feb 4, 2022

The pvfactors model treats rows as infinite in length but finite in number, with the current default being n_pvrows=3. With such a small number of rows come interesting edge effects such as fully-illuminated ground underneath the array at low sun elevation. This particular effect creates morning and afternoon spikes in rearside irradiance that shrink as n_pvrows is increased:

image

Increased row count, and therefore increased ground shading, also reduces rearside irradiance at midday when the rear surface is exposed to the entire ground plane.

Whether the default value of n_pvrows should be changed so the output is more representative of the interior of large arrays is debatable, but regardless of what n_pvrows defaults to I think we should somehow document its effect on output. Maybe just a sentence or warning in the function docstring? Maybe a gallery example with a plot like the one above?

Probably worth pointing out that increasing n_pvrows significantly increases runtime. See SunPower/pvfactors#134.

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