Practical Evaluation of Solar Irradiance Effect on PV Performance

Abstract

"The sun radiation has very important effect on the performance of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules due to its variation from time to time. In this paper, the performance of Solara®-130 PV module will be evaluated practically by using the solar model tester (SMT). The existing SMT can generate variable solar irradiance from 100 w/m2up to 1050w/m2 . The I-V and P-V curves are plotted automatically via software controlling program on the SMT. Different parameters are obtained from the SMT like: VOC, ISC,Vpm, Ipm, Rs, Rsh and fill factor. The results can be used for plotting the relation between the solar irradiances (G) and the corresponding short circuit currents (ISC), then the relation between G-I can be used for measuring the solar irradiance based on the short circuit current in that curve, which means instead of using the PV module for generating electricity, it can be used for measuring the sun radiation instead of using the Pyranometer device."