The group is responsible for four laboratories: one strictly for teaching, one divided between teaching and research, and two laboratories only for research. The research laboratories are equipped with instruments for electrical characterization (Keithley 2612A SMU, welling station Weller 3030, 4-channel oscilloscope with protocol decoders, SMUs). A small photovoltaic system deployed on the roof consists of three different PV technologies (monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous silicon). It is connected to a monitoring and control system in the laboratory. The system also includes a battery inverter, batteries, and energy management units. Finally, there are six educational packages based on Siemens S7-1200 PLC and several microcontroller boards.
The research will be focused on photovoltaic systems with energy storage. The main challenge is to match the production and consumption of electricity. To achieve this, all components will be analysed both separately and as a part of the system, and the influence of each component on system operation will be investigated. We will look at the possible optimization of each system component to achieve better system efficiency. Energy flow in the system will be measured and possible optimization of the system concerning both the production and consumption side will be studied.
One separate topic involves the simulation of photovoltaic systems. Widely accepted simulation procedures and tools will be assessed and compared with data from measured PV systems in Croatia. Comparison data will be used to detect possible underperforming PV systems. Also, recommendations from PV community will be used to adopt common practices in building reliable PV monitoring systems in Croatia. The goal is to establish procedures for monitoring and analysis of the reliability of PV systems.
A theoretical and experimental study on the photovoltaic mismatch will be initiated. Particularly, the impact of partial shading and soiling on the electrical parameters of the photovoltaic module and systems will be analyzed.