1/2/2017 PhotovoltaicsElectricalCharacteristics|SolarPower

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ElectricalCharacteristicsofPVModules
SolarEnergyHome
SolarRadiation Equivalentelectriccircuit
Technologies
Asolarmodulecanbeseenasablackboxthatwithtwo
TechOverview connectors,producingacurrent,I,atavoltage,U.
PVPrinciples
Forthepurposeoftheelectricalcharacteristicsofasolar
ConcentratingPV cell,theinsideofthatblackboxcanbedescribedbyan
PVModulesOverview electriccicuitwithonly4components:
PVElectronics
1.CurrentSource:Thisisthesourceofthephoto
SolarGlass&Mirrors current,anditis:
PVonbuildings
GroundmountedPV
withthecellarea,A,theintensityofincominglight,
PVSystems
H,andtheresponsefactorinunitsofA/W.
PVEnergyYield 2.Diode:Thisnonlinearelementreflectsthe
PVSystemSizing dependanceonthebandgapandlossestorecombination.Itischaracterisedbythereversecurrent,I0,whichmeasurestheleakage
ofelectronsandrecombiningandbyaqualityfactor,q,withvaluesbetween12,anempiricalfactor.
PVManufacturing
3.ShuntResistorRp:representslossesincurredbyconductors.
PVValueChain 4.SerialResistorRs:alsoreprentslossesincurredbynonidealconductors.
CSTTechnologies
TherelationshipbetweenIandUofasinglecellisthenexpressedby:
CSTSystems
CSTEnergyYield withthermalvoltage
MarketsforSolarPower
SolarPowerIndustry
SolarFinance withtemperature,T(inKelvin),Boltzmannconstantk=1.38e23andtheelementarychargee=1.602e19.Usingthisformula,wecan
calculatemaximumpowerpoints,butalsobehaviourunderdifferenttemperatures.
Performance
Inamodule,anumberofcellsareputinseriesintoastring,andanumberofstringsinparallel.Puttingcellsinseriesaddstothevoltage,
RelatedLinks whereasputtingcellsinparalleladdstothecurrent,sothat:
RenewableEnergy

CurrentVoltageCurve:IUCharacteristics

TheIUequationcanonlybesolvediteratively.Thegraph
totherightshowsatypicalcurve.

Sensitivity:Thecurveishighlysensitivetochangesin:

Conversion
Shifttohighercurrents
Efficiency
Highertermperatureresultsin
loweropencircuitvoltage,
andhighershortcircuit
Temperature
current.Overallresultisa
shiftofthempptoalower
power.
Reversesaturation Higherleakageresultsin
current flattercurve.
Higherlossesresultinlower
Serialresistance
voltage

Inpractice,noneoftheparametersintheIUcharacterisitccurvecanbedirectrlyobserved.Instead,manufactureresprovidethefollowing
data:

Shortcircuitcurrent
Opencircuitvolage
Maximumpowervoltage
andmaximumpower
current
Temperaturecoefficient
CurrentthatflowswhenU=0
Voltageobservedwhennocurrentisflowing
Thereisonepointonthecurvethatprovidesforthemaximumpoweroutput,P=UxI
Providesforsensitivitytochangesintemperature.

Thisistheconversionefficiencythatisobservedwhenthemoduleissubjectedtolightwithintensity
1kW/m2understandardconditionsiscallednominalefficiency.Thepeakpowerofthemoduleisrelated
tothemoduleareaAandnominalefficiencynomby:
Nominalmoduleefficiency
Ppeak=H0 nomAwith:H0=1,000W/m2

Thenominalefficiencycanbeobtainedfromthemanufacturer'sdatasheet.

Shouldtheconditionsdifferfromthestandardtestingcondition,thenominalmoduleefficiencymustbe
multipliedbyarelativemoduleefficiency,rel.Thisfactorisdependantonchangesintemperature,
Relativemoduleefficiency intensityoftheincominglightandratioofdiffuseradiationtodirectradiation.Theinstantaneouspower
suppliedbythemoduleis:

Pmodule=H/H0or:Ppeak=H0AnomrelwithintensityofincominglightH.

Valuesfortherelativeefficiencycanbeobtainedfrommanufacturer'sdatasheet.

RelativeModuleEfficiency

Hereisatypicalcurveforrelative
efficiencyovertheintensityofthe
incominglightfordifferent
temperatures.Naturally,at25C
and1,000W/m2therelative
efficiencyis1.0,asthesearethe
standardtestconditions.

Nevertheless,theconversion

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1/2/2017 PhotovoltaicsElectricalCharacteristics|SolarPower
Nevertheless,theconversion
efficiencyisnearlyconstantovera
widerangeofintensities,only
droppingsharplybelow10%ofthe
standard1,000W.

Changesintemperaturecausethe
curvetoshiftupwards(ifcolder)or
downwards(ifwarmer).Siliconis
moresensitivetotemperature
changesthanmanyofthethinfimmaterials.

MaximumPowerTracking

Withlightvaryingitsintensitythroughouttheday,
themaximumpowerpointmovestodifferent
voltagesandcurrents.Thatmeans,if,for
instance,thevoltageisforcedtobeconstant,the
solarmodulewillmostlikelynotoperateinits
poweroptimum.

Inpractice,aMaximumPowerPointTracker
(MPP),isinsertedbetweenthesolarmoduleand
theload(itsoutput)inordertoensureoptimum
operation.SuchMPPtrackerisanadjustableDC
toDCtransformer,whichcontainsahigh
frequencyswitchprovidingamatchingbetween
theloadandthesolarmodule.

Manufacturersquote2efficiencyfactors:

1.MaximumEfficiencyFactorthisisthe
measureofhowclosethedevicegetsto
thetruemaximumpowerpoint.Typical
valuesarearound97%.
2.EuorpeanEfficiencyFactorinreality,
thetrackingefficiencyisnotconstant
acrossthewholevoltagerange.However,
duetovariationsinsolarirradiance,the
mpptrackerwilloftenhavetoworkina
nonoptimalrange.Hence,theEuropean
efficiencyfactorisanaverageefficiency
factorthatonewouldexpectinthemiddle
ofEurope.Typicalvaluesarearound95%

MostMPPtrackersare"stepdowntrackers",
drivingahighvoltageloadfromalowvoltage
solarmodule.Forinstance:

MPPinputvoltagerange200400Vtransformed
intoamaximumvoltageof550V.

Downloads: References:
DownloadherespreadsheetwithsolutionforIUcharacteristicscurve.. DatasheetfromMasdarPV

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