Low-Cost Solar Irradiance Sensing for PV Systems

Miguel Carrasco, Antonino Laudani, Gabriele Maria Lozito, Fernando Mancilla-David, Francesco Riganti Fulginei and Alessandro Salvini
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Miguel Carrasco: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA
Antonino Laudani: Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00149 Roma, Italy
Gabriele Maria Lozito: Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00149 Roma, Italy
Fernando Mancilla-David: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA
Francesco Riganti Fulginei: Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00149 Roma, Italy
Alessandro Salvini: Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00149 Roma, Italy

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Determination of solar irradiance is a critical asset to ensure efficient working conditions for a photovoltaic (PV) system. This work analyze the feasibility of assessing solar irradiance on a PV device assuming the knowledge of the device temperature and the voltage/current operating point. This work proposes an approach based on a manipulation of the analytic expressions found in the reduced form of the “single diode” circuit model for a silicon PV device. The approach was validated through different practical experiments, and the results obtained are comparable to the ones of a commercial instrument for irradiance sensing. The ease of construction and the reduced costs involved make a device based on the proposed approach suitable for large-scale integration in a PV plant.

Keywords: parameter estimation; photovoltaic power systems; renewable energy; solar radiation (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: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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