The Dutch PV Portal 3.0

The Dutch PV Portal is a website on photovoltaic (PV) energy generation in the Netherlands, developed within the Photovoltaic Materials and Devices Group (PVMD) of the Delft University of Technology. A version 2.0 was launched in 2018. The core of this website is an online PV system performance calculation model which involves three main functionalities: (i) a figure with a breakdown of the real-time system efficiencies, (ii) a national solar electricity production (NSEP) estimate, and (iii) an analysis of the economics for several types of PV systems. The goal of this Master thesis project was to create a Dutch PV Portal (PVP) version 3.0. The first part of this project involved investigating the vision and the purpose of this PV modelling website, as well as evaluating the performance calculation model of the version 2.0. A user-centered approach was followed to better understand the needs of one identified target group using this website: anyone who considers to opt for a PV system at a certain location. This means that, besides adding new features and upgrading the scientific models, also attention was paid to improving the usability of the website. Next to this, the potential of the NSEP model to perform large-scale sensitivity studies was researched. The Dutch PVP 3.0 contains several new design possibilities. A flat roof design option is implemented, the orientation (portrait/landscape) of the PV modules can be specified, an input option for row-to-row distance in field and flat roof designs is added and a design possibility for an East-West setup is created. Furthermore, the performance calculation model now contains a model that calculates the system's self-shading loss for field of flat roof designs: a so-called mutual shading model. Other new features are a load model that estimates the PV system size based on a specified yearly electricity use and a system size model that calculates a layout of the PV array based on the system size input specified by the user. A first validation study of the overall performance model for tilted roof designs found that the calculated energy values deviate between -10% and +5.4% from measured values of 26 real systems. The usability of the Dutch PVP is improved by implementing a framework that considers how the performance model fits within the bigger picture of the 'PV system design process'. It resulted in a step-by-step, responsive user interface that aims to better guide the user through multiple stages of this design process, and that relates to several identified questions they have in mind. An improved visual appearance contributes to this. The future application possibilities of the NSEP model were found to be promising, but many more research and professionalization is needed in order to create a large-scale research tool based on this model. The results of an executed sensitivity study with this NSEP model show first estimates of the quantitative impact of changing climate on the national solar electricity production