Experimental analysis of the maximum power point's properties for four photovoltaic modules from different technologies: Monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon, CIS and CdTe

This paper examines the maximum power point's (MPP) properties of PV modules from different technologies: monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, CIS and CdTe. The work aims at finding the best way to identify and track the MPP position under changing working conditions. Special attention is paid to the existing correlation between the MPP coordinates and the corresponding working conditions (ambient temperature, global solar radiation) and I-V curves' parameters (short circuit current, open circuit voltage). This study, based on outdoor exposure data, reveals quite clearly that the often used correlations, on which some algorithms are based, are most of the time far from the technical reality and that the assumptions used are true and verified only for certain PV technologies and certain working conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.