Experimental Validation of a Thermo-Electric Model of the Photovoltaic Module under Outdoor Conditions

Abstract

An operating temperature of the photovoltaic (PV) module greatly affects performance and its lifetime. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate operating temperature of the photovoltaic module in different weather conditions and how it affects its performance. The primary objective of this paper is to present a dynamic thermo-electric model for determining the temperature and output power of the photovoltaic module. The presented model is validated with field measurement at the Institute of Energy Technology, Faculty of Energy Technology, University of Maribor, Slovenia. The presented model was compared with other models in different weather conditions, such as clear, cloudy and overcast. The evaluation was performed for the operating temperature and output power of the photovoltaic module using Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE) and Mean-Absolute-Error (MAE). The average RMSE and MAE values are 1.75 °C and 1.14 °C for the thermal part and 20.34 W and 10.97 W for the electrical part.