Effects of solar spectrum and module temperature on outdoor performance of photovoltaic modules in round‐robin measurements in Japan

Abstract

The performance of six photovoltaic (PV) modules composed of polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), and hydrogenated amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si) modules was investigated at eight locations in Japan from August 2007 to December 2008. In addition, solar irradiance, solar spectrum, and module temperature were simultaneously measured in these round-robin measurements. In this study, we evaluate quantitatively the effects of module temperature and solar spectrum on the performance of the PV modules as thermal factor (TF) and spectral factor (SF), respectively. Furthermore, we investigate the variation in module performance, which is converted into module performance under standard test conditions (STC) using the TF and SF. In the case of the pc-Si modules, the variations in performance ratio under STC (PR STC ) for these modules range from 0.056 to 0.074 through the round-robin measurements. The TF indicates that the contribution of module temperature to the variation in performance is large, between about 15 and 20%. However, the SF suggests that the contribution of solar spectrum is quite small, less than 3%. In the case of the a-Si modules, the contribution of module temperature is about 8%. The performance is largely influenced by solar spectrum, more than 12% at its maximum. Consequently, the variations in the corrected PR STC of the a-Si modules are between 0.117 and 0.141. These large variations may result from the effects of thermal annealing and light soaking. The variation in PR STC of the a-Si:H/c-Si module is similar to that of the pc-Si modules.

Effects of spectral coupling on perovskite solar cells under diverse climatic conditions

“…The spectral effects on the performance of different PV devices have been studied as a function of the average photon energy (APE) by several authors [14][15][16]. A different approach has also been also used by other authors concerning the spectral factor (SF) variation under different climate conditions at different locations [17][18][19]. Also, the study of the spectral effects on the performance of concentrated PV devices based on multi-junction solar cells has recently been addressed.…”

PV technologies performance comparison in temperate climates

“…It is important to note that c-Si PV modules are able to convert solar energy into electrical energy in a wide spectrum, typically between 350 and 1200 nm, with a higher quantum efficiency in the near-infrared band (Sirisamphanwong and Ketjoy, 2012;Ishii et al, 2011;Minemoto et al, 2007).…”

On the uncertainty of energetic impact on the yield of different PV technologies due to varying spectral irradiance

“…Spectral irradiance was measured and investigated all around the world -from Japan over tropic regions, south Africa, southern and middle continental Europe, the UK and the US (Japan: (Ishii et al, 2012(Ishii et al, , 2011a(Ishii et al, ,b, 2013bMinemoto et al, 2007aMinemoto et al, ,b, 2009Nagae et al, 2006Nagae et al, , 2009Nakada et al, 2010), tropic regions: (Eltbaakh et al, 2013;Sirisamphanwong and Ketjoy, 2012), South Africa: (Okullo et al, 2011), Continental Europe: (Alonso-Abella et al, 2014;Behrendt et al, 2013Behrendt et al, , 2010Cornaro and Andreotti, 2013;Dirnberger et al, 2015Dirnberger et al, , 2011bDriesse et al, 2012;Nofuentes et al, 2013;Perez-Lopez et al, 2007;Piliougine et al, 2013;Schweiger et al, 2012;Zinsser et al, 2011), UK: (Gottschalg et al, 2004(Gottschalg et al, , 2003, US: (King et al, 2002)). …”