Estimation of Most Frequent Conditions and Performance Evaluation of Three Photovoltaic Technology Modules

In this paper, a performance evaluation technique using most frequent conditions (MFC) for accurate design of photovoltaic systems, based on energy rating and site-specific standards is reported. Most frequent conditions are estimated for the three different technologies: multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), and hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) for the site based on air-mass, module temperatures, incident in-plane irradiance, and power output. The performances are analyzed over a period of 3 years by evaluating changes in the performance ratio, the energy yields, and the percentages of occurrence of data points corresponding to standard test condition (STC), nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT), and MFC. For MFC, performance ratio (PR) values are ranging from 0.70 to 0.83, 0.70 to 0.86, and 0.70 to 0.90 for mc-Si, a-Si, and HIT, respectively. The total energy yield of HIT is the highest followed by a-Si and mc-Si modules for this climatic zone.