Sensitivity of solar panel energy conversion at sunrise and sunset on three weather fluctuations in equatorial climate

Abstract

The high sunlight intensity in tropical and equatorial regions makes the potential for installing photovoltaic (PV) panels. However, the initial design of PV installations must be analyzed. Their implementation is carried out in buildings with load power for household electricity scale. For this reason, the panel reliability system could be efficient by designing the initial PV requirements using systematic measurements. Collecting data on fluctuating sunlight intensity (unpredictable weather) conditions needs the use of manual measuring tools, namely digital light meters and PV data with sensor integration. The research sample consists of three fluctuating hot weather conditions, namely hot-sunny, hot-cloudy and hot-rainy conditions. These weather conditions were taken because the climate of West Sumatra tends to shift clouds which sometimes cover the sun's rays. The peak PV output for direct current (DC) power generated during hot- sunny conditions reaches 1827.17 W, in sunny-cloudy weather it reaches around 1626.85 W and during sunny-rainy weather conditions the resulting output is 1161.81 W. From daily measurements, the results show that the efficiency of the PV system is strongly influenced by the prevailing weather climate.