To achieve a high performance in sub-module power conditioning circuits, it is important that power converters are designed in accordance with the photovoltaic (PV) cell impedance at the input. Taking this one step further, exploiting the impedance of cell strings could even support novel power conditioning approaches in PV modules. In this work, we characterize the impedance of eight single-cell laminates based on different industrial c-Si PV cell architectures. This characterization is carried out by impedance spectroscopy in dark conditions at room temperature, and the capacitive and inductive effects are evaluated through equivalent model fitting. By comparing the results for the different laminates, it is revealed how the cell design affects its impedance. Our experiments show that the PN junction capacitance at maximum power point varies for the different cells between 0.30 and 45.6 μF/cm². The two main factors contributing to a high PV cell capacitance at maximum power point are (i) a low wafer dopant concentration and (ii) a high maximum power point voltage. In high-efficiency c-Si PV cells that will be fabricated in the coming years, increasing capacitances are expected for operation near the maximum power point. Furthermore, the single-cell laminates exhibit inductances between 63 and 130 nH, and our results indicate that the inductance is mostly affected by the number of busbars and the geometry of the metal contacts.

Currently, photovoltaic (PV) installations target a maximization of annual energy yield. However, as the grid penetration of PV is increasing, PV electricity generation will need to match better with local load profiles. Especially the seasonal variabilities remain challenging. While wind and PV tend to have complementary seasonal variability, wind turbine installation faces limitations especially in densely populated areas. In this paper, we discuss how this challenge may be addressed with climate- and consumption-specific PV module technology. In particular, we demonstrate how the temperature coefficient of a PV system can impact the energy yield throughout the year. In colder climates, higher temperature coefficients allow for a better energy balance, favoring production in colder seasons without a significant reduction of yearly energy yield. Simulations for locations at high latitude, and colder climates, indicate that higher temperature coefficients and improved low-light behavior not only enable a higher energy yield in cold seasons, but also negligible losses in the overall yearly energy yield compared to lower temperature coefficients and slightly better low-light behavior. Simulations show that these results can be obtained using commercial PV modules. More broadly, they indicate how PV module technology may be optimized depending on the location and climate.

With the growing competition of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants to provide electricity to the grid, accurate energy yield simulation is becoming essential. Apart from irradiance, forced convection can have an equally significant impact on solar cell temperature, which in turn affects the power output, hence the energy yield. As a consequence, the wind must be taken into account for an accurate estimation of PV installations' energy yield. However, no earlier studies have systematically investigated the impact of wind on precise energy yield simulation. In this study, we investigate how sensitive is PV module's output to forced convection. First, we reveal a significant deviation between the simulated PV module's energy yield and cell temperature compared to experimental results in case dynamic wind effects are neglected. Secondly, for controlled incremental forced convection with a steady state scenario, we show that for higher wind speed the change of PV module's cell temperature and power output is small with different forced convection. Whereas, for the low wind speed, small changes of forced convection imply a larger variation of the PV module's cell temperature and power output. This shows that for high wind speed region energy yield estimation is less sensitive on modelling errors. Whereas for the low wind speed region it is highly sensitive.

Reconfigurable photovoltaic modules represent an effective solution to improve PV system resilience to partial shading. Indeed, the availability of different configurations increases energy generation under non-uniform conditions. However, the additional components that are active under uniform conditions lead to higher losses compared to equivalent static solutions. This paper presents a methodology for the design of optimized reconfigurable PV modules, balancing losses under uniform conditions and gain under partial shading. First, feasible reconfigurable module instantiations are selected given some design constraints. Then, the search space is further reduced by taking into account the typical operating conditions of the module. Finally, the best module layouts are chosen based on performance consideration. Results for a specific case study are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed methodology.

PV module testing under standard conditions is an important and well-established procedure, which plays a vital role in module rating. However, PV modules rarely operate at standard conditions therefore their field performance should be predicted based on long term outdoor monitoring or by means of models – so called energy yield models, which combine PV module characteristics with varying environmental conditions. The present work employs a bottom-up, physics-based energy yield modelling approach, which accounts to the interacting optical, thermal and electrical mechanisms in a detailed manner. Additionally, measured data is used for the accurate calibration of the models. Such an approach permits to explore the influence of cell- and module technology details on energy yield under any specific environmental conditions. The present work employs such a method to evaluate the influence of Silicon solar cell technology on energy yield under desert and moderate climates, where the interplay of different irradiance and ambient temperature levels result in a challenging PV performance prediction problem. The purpose of this work is to identify the best-suited solar cell technologies and to understand the underlying mechanisms, which lead to superior PV performance under specific climate conditions. The study is performed by means of physics-based exploratory energy yield simulations with detailed resolution of the thermal effects. Our comparison of four different cell technologies in monofacial modules highlights that superior illumination-dependent performance can contribute to annual energy yield enhancement under both moderate and desert climates amounting to 1.75% and 0.4%, respectively; while a 0.04%/°C advantage in relative temperature coefficient increases annual energy yield (by 1.2%) only under a desert climate.