Energy and environmental performance analysis of grid-connected photovoltaic systems under similar outdoor conditions in the Saharan environment

The aim of this paper is to present a one-year performance analysis of four grid-connected PV systems installed at Ghardaia city in Algeria's Sahara. The grid-connected PV systems are based on four different PV module technologies which are: monocrystalline silicon (m-Si), multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si), cadmium telluride (Cd-Te) and amorphous (a-Si) PV module technologies. The PV systems based on the thin film technologies have their performance ratio better throughout the year when the performance ratio of the mc-Si technology is better in the winter season. The a-Si PV system has its performance ratio about 6.13 % more better than mc-Si and 8.90 % better than m-Si. The AC energy produced with the a-Si PV system is 13.32 % more than what the mc-Si system produces. It was found that the a-Si PV system performs better than the other technologies under the Saharan climate conditions of Ghardaia city. The energy payback time (EPBT) and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of the different PV systems were analyzed. The EPBT and GHG emissions per year, vary from a minimum value of 2.8 years to a maximum value of 5.73 years and from 13.24 tons to 32.03 tons of CO2/kWh for CdTe and m-Si respectively. The CdTe PV system performs better in terms of EPBT and GHG emissions compared to the other technologies (m-Si, mc-Si and a-Si) due to its low life cycle energy requirement.