Suggestions
Mark Mikofski
Solar energy performance & reliability
Mark Mikofski is a solar energy expert and the Head of Section for Solar Energy Assessment (EA) at DNV since July 2023.1 He has extensive experience in the solar industry, focusing on performance and reliability of solar energy systems.
Mikofski holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.1 His career includes roles such as Principal Engineer at DNV, Senior Staff Performance Engineer at SunPower, and Senior Researcher at AREVA Solar.1
At DNV, Mikofski leads the Solar EA team, which provides accurate performance yield estimates for PV systems. They use digital tools like SolarFarmer, pvlib, and Python to deliver fast, accurate, and transparent predictions.1
Mikofski is also known for his contributions to open-source software in solar energy modeling. He is a co-author of the pvlib python package, a widely used tool for modeling solar energy systems.2 His research interests include solar energy, photovoltaics, optimization, and numerical methods.2
Throughout his career, Mikofski has published numerous articles on solar energy topics, including PV module degradation, shading effects on PV arrays, and clear sky irradiance modeling.2 He is recognized as an expert in the field, frequently speaking at industry events and webinars on topics such as financing solar systems and solar availability assumptions.34
Highlights
Are you confused by electrical mismatch caused by shade in PV #solarpower systems? Me too! Kurt Rhee and I tackle this counter-intuitive topic in a two-part joint blog post. In my part: https://lnkd.in/gY8zsVF4, I examine what happens when a chimney, telephone pole, or wind-turbine casts a shadow perpendicular to strings in an array. Depending on the fraction of modules in the string shaded, this scenario may activate bypass diodes and manage to only lose the power from the shaded modules, not the entire string. This differs from advice I gave for row-to-row shade parallel to strings that caused the entire string to lose most of its output. I don't think rules of thumb are going to cover all scenarios, so I suggest testing them with the PVMismatch #Python package. Let me know what you find out!
Join me at the DNV booth C38069 at RE+, September 9-12th, in Anaheim to learn how we can help you minimize risk and achieve financial goals.
https://lnkd.in/gJcm4548
#REPlus24 #CleanEnergy #RenewingWhatsPossible RE+
