Techniques of Solar Irradiance Estimation from Datasheet Information of Photovoltaic Panels

Due to the increasing proportion of photovoltaic production in the electric generation mix, it is important to know the capacity of photovoltaic generation to estimate the efficiency of the solar power plant in any condition and thus to predict the point where the maximum power is converted. The process of converting solar energy into electrical energy is directly influenced by the level of irradiance and temperature of the photovoltaic module. In this way, equipment and tools that enable the acquisition of such data contribute directly to the knowledge of the efficiency of the photovoltaic system. While the acquisition of temperature values in photovoltaic panels is easy to implement, the same does not occur for irradiance values, where the costs of the sensors and their calibration are some of the problems faced. With the objective of exploring and comparing irradiance estimation techniques, the present work presents four solar radiation estimation algorithms, based on PV panel datasheet.