This part of IEC 61724 defines a procedure for measuring and analyzing the power production of a specific photovoltaic system with the goal of evaluating the quality of the PV system performance. The test is intended to be applied during a relatively short time period (a few relatively sunny days).

In this procedure, actual photovoltaic system power produced is measured and compared to the power expected for the observed weather based on the design parameters of the system. The expected power under reference and measured conditions are typically derived from the design parameters that were used to derive the performance target for the plant as agreed to prior to the commencement of the test. For cases when a power model was not developed during the plant design, a simple model that increases transparency is presented in the annexes as a possible approach.

The intent of this document is to specify a framework procedure for comparing the measured power produced against the expected power from a PV system on relatively sunny days. This test procedure is intended for application to grid-connected photovoltaic systems that include at least one inverter and the associated hardware.

The performance of the system is quantified both during times when the inverters are maximum-power-point tracking and during times when the system power is limited by the output capability of the inverter or interconnection limit, reducing the system output relative to what it would have been with an inverter with generation freely following irradiance, if this condition is relevant.

This procedure can be applied to any PV system, including concentrator photovoltaic systems, using the irradiance (direct or global) that is relevant to the performance of the system.

This test procedure was designed and drafted with a primary goal of facilitating the documentation of a performance target, but it can also be used to verify a model, track performance (e.g., degradation) of a system over the course of multiple years, or to document system quality for any other purpose. The terminology has not been generalized to apply to all of these situations, but the intent is to create a methodology that can be used whenever the goal is to verify system performance at a specific reference condition chosen to be a frequently observed condition. A more complete evaluation of plant performance can be accomplished by using the complementary Technical Specification IEC TS 61724‑3, Photovoltaic system performance – Part 3: Energy evaluation method.