Plenary session to present the results of a blind photovoltaic modeling intercomparison

Sandia photovoltaic researcher Marios Theristis will be one of three plenary speakers featured at the scientific opening session of the upcoming 8th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-8) to take place Sept. 26-30, 2022, at the Milano Convention Centre in Milan, Italy. Theristis will present, “International Photovoltaic Modeling Intercomparison,” a study focusing on the importance of precise photovoltaic (PV) energy yield predictions, and an international collaboration spanning 26 organizations from 12 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

“PV performance models predict the energy yield of a PV system, which is necessary to assign value to and obtain financing for a PV plant. Different models and/or their combination may result in varying accuracies, and different assumptions for derates will significantly affect such estimations, and therefore, investor confidence,” said Theristis, who was the lead of the study. “When an approach is tested against known datasets, naturally, a bias might be introduced. In our study, we asked the modelers to predict the actual performance of a PV system blindly. As such, Sandia provided a unique opportunity for PV modelers to test their models and modeling ability against high quality and real system datasets from Albuquerque, NM, and Roskilde, Denmark.”

The presentation will address the many parameters comprising varying modeling approaches and software used today, Theristis said, and provide the results of the first-of-its-kind assessment between the different approaches that predict the energy delivery of PV systems.

The plenary session will be a first for Theristis, who holds an engineer’s degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Democritus University of Thrace, Polytechnic School of Xanthi, Greece, and a PhD from the Institute of Mechanical, Process and Energy Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, where his research focused on modeling High Concentrating Photovoltaic receivers.

Originally contemplating a career in nuclear energy, Theristis said he shifted direction at the urging of a favorite advisor to photovoltaic research, and specifically, new techniques in stochastic and reliability modeling. Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, he said he has never looked back. He joined Sandia in Sept. 2019, and is the recipient of several scholarship, conference, and academic awards and grants; he has published more than 80 papers; served as a guest editor for the journal Energies; he is an active peer reviewer for 20 journals; and he has participated in several international PV initiatives.

“[Working at Sandia] feels like playing in one of the greatest soccer clubs in the world, being surrounded by great players, who continuously inspire and motivate me to do better,” said Theristis. “It is an honor and a privilege to give a plenary talk at the largest scientific PV conference in the world. I look forward to discussions on how to improve PV performance and reliability modeling in order to remove barriers to PV being a dominate source of carbon-free electricity.”

To learn more about the upcoming plenary, read the sneak peek of the WCPEC-8 opening plenary session.

Read more about Sandia’s Photovoltaic Solar Energy program.