A Platform for Outdoor Real-Time Characterization of Photovoltaic Technologies

Sammy J. Martínez-Deusa, Carlos A. Gómez-García and Jaime Velasco-Medina ()
Additional contact information
Sammy J. Martínez-Deusa: School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Calle 13 #100-00, Cali 760043, Colombia
Carlos A. Gómez-García: School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Calle 13 #100-00, Cali 760043, Colombia
Jaime Velasco-Medina: School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universidad del Valle, Calle 13 #100-00, Cali 760043, Colombia

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: In recent years, thin-film and organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies have been increasingly used as alternatives to conventional technologies due to their low weight, portability, and ease of installation. Outdoor characterization studies allow knowing the real performances of these photovoltaic (PV) technologies in different environmental conditions. Therefore, to address the above, this article presents the hardware–software design and implementation of an integrated and scalable platform for performing the outdoor real-time characterization of modern PV/OPV technologies located at different altitudes. The platform allows knowing the outdoor performance of PV/OPV technologies in real environmental conditions by acquiring data from different monitoring stations located at different altitudes. The proposed platform allows characterizing solar panels and mini-modules and acquiring relevant information to analyze power generation capacity and efficiency. Furthermore, other devices for new PV technologies characterization can be easily added, achieving a scale-up of the platform. A preliminary study of the outdoor performance of emerging PV/OPV technologies was carried out at three different altitudes in a tropical climate region. From the results, the copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) technology presents the best outdoor performance with an average PCE of 9.64%; the OPV technology has the best behavior at high temperatures with a voltage loss rate of 0.0206 V/°C; and the cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology is the most affected by temperature, with a voltage loss rate of 0.0803 V/°C.

Keywords: monitoring system; organic photovoltaic (OPV); outdoor performance; thin-film photovoltaic; solar panel characterization (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/6/2907/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/6/2907/ (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:16:y:2023:i:6:p:2907-:d:1103648

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 ().