Estimating PV Module Performance over Large Geographical Regions: The Role of Irradiance, Air Temperature, Wind Speed and Solar Spectrum

Thomas Huld and Ana M. Gracia Amillo
Additional contact information
Thomas Huld: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, Ispra I-21027, Italy
Ana M. Gracia Amillo: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Fermi 2749, Ispra I-21027, Italy

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 6, 1-23

Abstract: We present a study of how photovoltaic (PV) module performance varies on continental scale. Mathematical models have been used to take into account shallow-angle reflectivity, spectral sensitivity, dependence of module efficiency on irradiance and module temperature as well as how the module temperature depends on irradiance, ambient temperature and wind speed. Spectrally resolved irradiance data retrieved from satellite images are combined with temperature and wind speed data from global computational weather forecast data to produce maps of PV performance for Eurasia and Africa. Results show that module reflectivity causes a fairly small drop of 2\%–4\% in PV performance. Spectral effects may modify the performance by up to \(\pm 6\)\%, depending on location and module type. The strongest effect is seen in the dependence on irradiance and module temperature, which may range from \(-\)20\% to +5\% at different locations.

Keywords: photovoltaic performance; energy rating; 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 (59)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/6/5159/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/6/5159/ (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:6:p:5159-5181:d:50569

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 ().