Performance study of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar pv modules in tropical environments

Abstract

Photovoltaic solar technology has emerged as a sustainable and environmental friendly source of energy, capable of mitigate climate change caused by the intensive use of fossil fuels, in order to keep up with the current world’s demand for energy. Current research effort is focused on the behavior of photovoltaic modules under real working conditions. Different photovoltaic module technologies like monocrystalline and polycrystalline were tested under the same operating conditions: autonomous systems with comparable energy conversion capabilities, same electric load and similar data acquisition systems, operating under the same weather conditions (on Fusagasugá, Colombia) in a synchronous fashion over a three month period. Variables like temperature, humidity, solar irradiance, power and I-V operation point were taken to estimate the conversion efficiency for each module related to those environment parameters. This paper presents comparison results between monocrystalline and polycrystalline technologies regarding operating parameters and environmental conditions (closely related to tropic environments), in order to determine the recommended photovoltaic solar technology to implement in a certain energy generation context.