Influence of photovoltaic cell technologies and elevated temperature on photovoltaic system performance
Williams S. Ebhota, Pavel Y. Tabakov
Abstract
This work deploys a configured hypothetical 6-kWp capacity PV system, with mounted rooftop panels, to examine the performance of a PV system, corresponding to different (a) PV cell technologies; (b) ambient temperatures. The first (crystalline silicon (c-Si)) and second (copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS)) generations of PV cells have been chosen for this study. A range of ambient temperatures, −10 °C to 50 °C, at an interval of 5 °C, will be used to investigate the influence of temperature on PV system performance, using the chosen PV cells. A PV design and simulation software, PVsyst, was deployed based on optimisation considerations. It was observed from the report that: the CIGS PV cell produced the highest energy at standard tests and conditions (STC) and elevated temperature; the Si mono and polycrystalline yielded the same amount of energy; the CIGS and Si monocrystalline cells PV have the highest and lowest PR, respectively.