Electrical and Thermal performances of Different Photovoltaic Modules: Predictions for the UAE Operating Conditions

Abstract

Photovoltaic modules are given a power rating at the standard testing conditions of 1kWm-2, AM1.5 and a cell temperature of 25 C. In specifying PV for design and feasibility purposes, it is important to be able to accurately estimate the power output under real life operating conditions because the standard testing conditions are ideal conditions and are rarely met. It is also well known that different PV technologies perform differently under various operating and weather conditions. In this work, we propose models to predict the performance of various PV modules operating in the UAE weather and environmental conditions. A three dimensional thermal model was used to predict the temperature of four commercial PV modules using a finite element method. In conjunction with an improved two-diode model, we were able to simulate the annual power output of these PV modules, namely mono-crystalline Si, multi-crystalline Si, thin film CdTe and amorphous Si. The inputs into our proposed model are the meteorological parameters recorded by our PV testing equipment installed in Masdar Institute. The equipment also measures the thermal and electrical performances of PV samples which were used to validate our proposed model. In addition, we compared our model with three commonly used models for predicting the performance of PV modules by using field data to assess their accuracy. The results show that our proposed model predicted with a much better accuracy the performance of PV modules operating in the UAE environment. They also show that, for the same PV power rating, environmental and mounting conditions, the amorphous Si PV module showed a superior electrical performance than the other PV modules considered in this work. An economic analysis also concluded that with a certain level of feed in tariff, all PV modules considered in this work would be feasible for deployment as roof top PV systems in the UAE.

Date of Award	May 2014
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Mahieddine Emziane (Supervisor)