Application of Satellite-Based Spectrally-Resolved Solar Radiation Data to PV Performance Studies

Ana Maria Gracia Amillo, Thomas Huld, Paraskevi Vourlioti, Richard Müller and Matthew Norton
Additional contact information
Ana Maria Gracia Amillo: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy
Thomas Huld: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy
Paraskevi Vourlioti: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy
Richard Müller: Deutscher Wetterdienst, Frankfurter Straße 135, Offenbach 63067, Germany
Matthew Norton: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 5, 1-34

Abstract: In recent years, satellite-based solar radiation data resolved in spectral bands have become available. This has for the first time made it possible to produce maps of the geographical variation in the solar spectrum. It also makes it possible to estimate the influence of these variations on the performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules. Here, we present a study showing the magnitude of the spectral influence on PV performance over Europe and Africa. The method has been validated using measurements of a CdTe module in Ispra, Italy, showing that the method predicts the spectral influence to within ±2% on a monthly basis and 0.1% over a 19-month period. Application of the method to measured spectral responses of crystalline silicon, CdTe and single-junction amorphous silicon (a-Si) modules shows that the spectral effect is smallest over desert areas for all module types, higher in temperate Europe and highest in tropical Africa, where CdTe modules would be expected to yield +6% and single- junction a-Si modules up to +10% more energy due to spectral effects. In contrast, the effect for crystalline silicon modules is less than ±1% in nearly all of Africa and Southern Europe, rising to +1% or +2% in Northern Europe.

Keywords: photovoltaic performance; spectral response; solar spectrum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/5/3455/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/5/3455/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:8:y:2015:i:5:p:3455-3488:d:48799

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().