Numerical Model Study on Influences of Photovoltaic Power Plants on Local Microclimate

Abstract

The construction of large-scale photovoltaic power plants will inevitably change the local environment. We consider that the impact of such increasing large-scale installations on radiation, temperature, moisture, and other factors within the region can be described by the photovoltaic canopy. This paper improves the UCRC-Solar model for photovoltaic power plants, with reference to the calculation of sensible heat flux of the underlying forest surface. Model verification was done with measured data from the Red Rock photovoltaic power plant, Arizona USA. In this study, the calculation of local microclimate changes before and after the construction of the photovoltaic power plants and, the impact of photovoltaic coverage finds an increase in the difference between the maximum and minimum ambient temperature of each day and, a reduction in the ground temperature by about 5℃. Furthermore, a 15% increase of photovoltaic coverage increased the daily 3m air temperature difference by 0.55℃ and yielded a reduction in the ground temperature by 3.6℃ in the day and 1.1℃ in the night respectively. In the future, rain and snow processes would be taken into consideration to further explore the microclimate impact of photovoltaic power plants.

Keywords: photovoltaic power plants, photovoltaic canopy, microclimates, energy balance model