Comparative Study of the Electrical Characteristics of Different Photovoltaic Modules in Outdoor Environment

Abstract

The electrical characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) modules are affected by solar radiation and module temperature in outdoor environment. It was found that polycrystalline gained a yearly 0.50°C more average module temperature than monocrystalline. Non-crystalline amorphous modules got a yearly 0.83°C more average temperature than thin film modules. The attainment and release of module temperature was related with material properties of PV module technologies. The amorphous module gave 5.7%, 2.7% and 15.0% more yearly average open-circuit voltage than polycrystalline, monocrystalline and thin film modules. Besides that, the thin film modules gave 6.5% and 1.7%, 9.3% and 4.0%, and 11.3% and 8.8% more yearly average normalized short-circuit current and power output than polycrystalline, monocrystalline and thin film modules respectively. It was shown that the maximum annual average open-circuit voltage was given by amorphous modules and maximum short-circuit current and power output by thin film modules during the study period.