Impact of Voltage Temperature Coefficient on power prediction of four type silicon photovoltaic module technologies installed in real conditions in the north-central of Algeria

Abstract

In this paper, attention has been paid to the importance of knowing the exact values of the temperature coefficients used in modeling of four different types of photovoltaic modules these modules are; monocrystalline silicon m-Si, polycrystalline silicon p-Si, amorphous silicon a-Si, and micromorphous silicon thin film μm-Si installed in outdoor conditions in north-central Algeria. The value of the temperature coefficients provided by the module manufacturer in the datasheet is obtained under specific conditions called the standard test conditions STC, but in reality, these conditions vary significantly if the modules are operated in real climatic conditions, this will lead us to recalculate these coefficients again to improve our model using a database collected over a period of one year obtained by our characterization bench of PV modules using a two diodes model. A comparison was made between the simulation and the experimental data of the selected modules using the new values of the calculated temperature and those given at STC conditions, the obtained results show that the use of these new calculated temperature coefficients leads to a reduction of the the Mean Relative error MRE on the annual power from 2 to 7% depending on the PV module's technology which shows the importance of knowing the real value of the temperature coefficients that will be used in the PV module and system modeling.