Performance and Socioeconomics of 1st Wheeling PV Project Connected to Medium Grid in Jordan.

The issue of energy security is becoming very important due to higher standards of living and being the engine for economic development. Hence, recently solar PV systems witnessed high popularity worldwide since it has facilitated the utilization of the untapped potential of solar energy. On-grid PV schemes have become the first option for power generation, among other renewable energy sources, due to low cost of generated power as compared with other systems and short construction time. This paper presents the real performance data of the first large size solar PV project, in Jordan, connected to the medium voltage grid on wheeling basis. The PV station was designed to be installed on south-north axis with an eastwest solar tracking system to enhance electrical energy production. The technical specification and calculated design parameters, such as different losses and energy yield, using the commercial software, PVsyst, were reported and compared with real data from the field. The annual electricity yield, in 2019, was about 3954 MWh with an overall performance ratio of 95%, exceeding all expectations. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid by governmental institutions and/or distribution companies, to the general performance of such plants and variation in rates of production. It is deemed that this paper will answer some of critique questions and fill the gap of information related to the performance of PV power stations, connected to the medium voltage network, under local conditions. More work should be aimed to check influencing factors on the performance of other large PV and wind plants in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]