Temperature Effects on Optimal Performance of PV Module

Abstract

The commonly used renewable energy source (RES) is solar energy. However, the production of this energy from PV modules has a lot of challenges and still needs technological improvement. This research investigates the effects of temperature on Photovoltaic (PV) module optimal performance. An experimental setup of a Monocrystalline (MC) module was used and data on the temperature and other parameters were measured using appropriate measuring tools. The relationship between module temperature and other parameters was evaluated using Pearson product correlation. The findings of this study showed that the temperature is significant for the Monocrystalline PV module to operate at its optimal. Also, the finding revealed that there is a weak correlation between the open circuit voltage (OCV) of the panel and the temperature, however, the PV module temperature has a strong and positive correlation with other parameters namely; solar irradiance, short circuit current (SCC), output power and conversion efficiency (CE) with a correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.94, 0.93, 0.92 and 0.93 respectively. The conversion efficiency of the PV module increases when its temperature is within the maximum operating temperature and tends to decrease when the temperature is beyond the design operating temperature of the module. This implies that temperature is also a key parameter to consider when designing a PV module system for optimal performance. This research recommends that temperature should be considered in the design of PV modules to power any equipment or machines for better performance.