Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Photovoltaic Module under Clouds Effects

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) module is one of the most useful, sustainable and non-harmful product in the field of renewable energy therefore, it increased rapidly. Photovoltaic performance affected inversely by Partial shading which occurs due to clouds, birds, buildings, trees and dust deposition etc,. This paper investigates the performance of monocrystalline photovoltaic module under cloud effect theoretically and experimentally. The experiments are conducted in Baghdad during November, December and January in 2018and 2019. PV parameters are simulated by using MATLAB to determine this effect. The measured and simulated data are compared to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach. The results show that the cloud has a significant impact on the performance of photovoltaic module. The clouds decrease the amount of direct radiation reaching to the surface of PV module. Therefore, output power of PV module in cloudy days is less than the power output in sunny days. The power output in the sunny days was 69.7W, and by comparing this value with measured values in (November, December and January), it is found that the measured values are reduced by 15.5, 59.65 and 62.26% respectively.