Performance Adjustment Factor for Fixed Solar PV Module

Abstract

There are different factors which contribute to the amount of output power which can be delivered by solar photovoltaic (PV) module at any time of the year. The factors include but not limited to solar irradiation, ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity, position of sun in the sky, geographical position of installed solar PV module and others. Apparent position of the sun in the sky contribute to the amount of electromagnetic radiation from the sun reaching the module's surface area. With the sun further away from the module and irradiance reaching the module surface area at an angle non perpendicular to the surface leads to low output power delivered by the module. In southern hemisphere the PV module experience high output power around November/December which are summer months and low output power around June/July which are winter months. This paper develops performance adjustment factor of fixed solar PV module to adjust PV module output power such that the PV system can deliver required amount of power during winter season. The results show that the value of performance adjustment factor for fixed solar PV module or system was established and can be used to adjust performance or output power for winter periods.