Series-Connected Shaded Modules to Address Partial Shading Conditions in SPV Systems

With the progress of technology and reduced cost of PV cells, the PV systems are being installed in many countries, including India. Even though this method of power generation has sufficient potential but its effective utilization is still lacking. This is because the output power of PV cells depends on many factors like insolation, temperature, climate conditions prevailing nearby, aging, using modules from different technologies/manufacturers or partial shading conditions. Among these factors, partial shading causes major reduction in output power despite the size of PV systems. As a result, the produced power is lower than the expected value. The connection of modules to each other has great impact on output power if they are prone to partial shading conditions. In this paper, PV arrays are investigated under partial shading conditions. The results show that partial shading losses can be minimized by connecting shaded modules in series rather than in parallel.