Modeling of Partial Shading Tolerance in Micro Concentrator Photovoltaic Modules

Micro-concentrator photovoltaics (mu-CPV) may provide a cost effective means of producing terrestrial solar power with high area efficiency. By printing CPV onto a transparent substrate, a Si back panel can be used to capture the diffuse sunlight component. Models show that efficiencies above 30% can be achieved even under global normal irradiance (GNI) with a 40% diffuse component. Additionally, the power output of existing installations can be boosted by adding a transparent mu-CPV array on top. To further the development of this technology, we have created a model to analyze mu-CPV array reliability under non-ideal conditions. The adverse effects of partial shading on standard large area panels such as crystalline Silicon (c-Si) are well known, but little investigation has been done on the tolerance of the mu-CPV components. In this article a SPICE simulation is used to analyze the effects of partial shading on a mu-CPV module and evaluate various circuit layouts.