*2.1. Solar PV System Description*

The proposed solar PV microgeneration community-based project consists of 68 residential units located at Belfield, Dublin (herein referred to as "the project"). The solar irradiance data collected from the nearest weather station at Dublin airport is 963 kWh m<sup>−</sup>2.

The solar PV panels are mounted on the rooftop of each unit with the collector facing south and a tilt angle of 30◦. The PV solar panel for use in this system are the Hanwha Q cells (Seoul, South Korea) Q peak G4.1 300 Rev4 monocrystalline modules with dimensions of 1670 × 1000 × 32 mm, with a surface area of 1.67 m<sup>2</sup> and an efficiency of 18%. Annual average solar irradiation received by these modules was 1074 kWh m<sup>−</sup>2. The roof area available on each unit for mounting of solar PV panels is 10.042 m2. Solar PV system details are listed in Table 1 [4].


**Table 1.** Solar PV system details for each unit.

The total solar PV installed effect of each unit *Wpi* [31] is calculated using Equation (1):

$$\mathcal{W}\_{pl} = A \cdot r \tag{1}$$

where,

*Wpi* = Total solar PV installed effect of each building in kW

*A* = Total roof area in m2;

*r* = Solar panel efficiency in %.

> The number of panels installed in each unit *Np* [31] is calculated using Equation (2):

$$N\_p = \mathcal{W}\_{pi} / \mathcal{W}\_p \tag{2}$$

where,

*Np* = Number of panels installed;

*Wpi* = Total solar PV installed effect of each unit in kW;

*Wp* = Nominal power rating of the panel in kW.

The annual peak output of the solar PV system of each unit *Ep* [31] is calculated using Equation (3):

$$E\_p = A \cdot r \cdot H \cdot \mathbb{C} \tag{3}$$

where,

*Ep* = Annual peak output of the solar PV system in kWh year<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup>

*H* = Annual average irradiation on tilted panels in kWh m<sup>−</sup>2.

*C* = Coefficient for losses (range between 0.9 to 0.5).

Coefficient for losses will depend on the site, technology and sizing of the system including inverter losses (6 to 15%), temperature losses (5 to 15%), DC cable losses (1 to 3%), AC cable losses (1 to 3%), shading (0 to 40%), weak irradiation (3 to 7%), losses due to dust, snow (0 to 2%), degradation of modules (0.5 to 1%) and other (1 to 2%). Default value is set to 0.75 [31].

The performance ratio of the solar PV system, *PR* [31] is calculated using Equation (4):

$$PR = \left(\frac{\frac{E\_p}{W\_{pi}}}{H}\right) \cdot 100\tag{4}$$

where,

*PR* = Performance ratio of the solar PV system in %.
