Impact of irradiance data on the energy yield modeling of dual-junction solar module stacks for one-sun applications

Abstract

With silicon-based tandem solar cells nearing commercialization, the significance of predicting the outdoor performance of tandem solar devices is growing. Although several models exist to calculate the outdoor performance, the availability of high-resolution irradiance data is limited. Therefore, we study the influence of the resolution of the irradiance data on the predicted energy yield of a 2-terminal III-V/Si tandem device. As an exemplary location, Golden, CO, USA, was chosen. We found that a wavelength resolution as low as 50 nm leads to a deviation of only 0.2% relative. We especially found that satellite-derived spectral data that are split into Kato bands lead to a deviation of 0.7% relative for Golden, CO, and, thus, are sufficient to model the energy yield of tandem devices. Confirming this finding for further locations has to be the scope of future work.