TY - GEN
T1 - String-Level (kW-scale) IV curves from different module types under partial shade
AU - Hidalgo-Gonzalez, Patricia L.
AU - Brooks, Adria E.
AU - Kopp, Emily S.
AU - Lonij, Vincent P.
AU - Cronin, Alexander D.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Partial shade is known to cause significant de-rating for most photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, the specific de-rating due to partial shade from differently shaped objects like overhead wires is not well known. We present current-voltage (I-V) curves from three different strings containing 4 to 9 PV modules while applying various types of partial shade, including shade from electrical cables in front of the modules. We show that a 1-kW string of nine poly-Silicon modules manufactured by Sharp can have a power loss of 13% due to shading just 1% of its surface area. We verify that blocking columns of cells in a module has less impact on power loss than blocking rows. This demonstrates how the non-linear response to partial shade can depend on the placement of bypass diodes that isolate different sub-strings within each module. Furthermore, we quantify the reduction in power and I-V parameters caused by shade from wires (or PVC pipes in our experiments).
AB - Partial shade is known to cause significant de-rating for most photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, the specific de-rating due to partial shade from differently shaped objects like overhead wires is not well known. We present current-voltage (I-V) curves from three different strings containing 4 to 9 PV modules while applying various types of partial shade, including shade from electrical cables in front of the modules. We show that a 1-kW string of nine poly-Silicon modules manufactured by Sharp can have a power loss of 13% due to shading just 1% of its surface area. We verify that blocking columns of cells in a module has less impact on power loss than blocking rows. This demonstrates how the non-linear response to partial shade can depend on the placement of bypass diodes that isolate different sub-strings within each module. Furthermore, we quantify the reduction in power and I-V parameters caused by shade from wires (or PVC pipes in our experiments).
KW - current-voltage characteristics
KW - photovoltaic systems
KW - system performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84869450626&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317868
DO - 10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317868
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84869450626
SN - 9781467300643
T3 - Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
SP - 1442
EP - 1447
BT - Program - 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2012
T2 - 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2012
Y2 - 3 June 2012 through 8 June 2012
ER -