Parametric estimation methods for photovoltaic (PV) cells/modules

Demand in the world for renewable energy resources is increasing because of growth in population and decreasing in the fossil fuel reserves. Solar energy produced via photovoltaic cells/modules has been chosen as more popular when compared with the other renewable energy sources. Because of this reason, realistic modelling and identification of the equivalent circuit parameters of the PVs are very important for production and applications. In this study, serial resistances (Rs), diode ideality factor (a), parallel resistances (Rp), reverse saturation current of diodes (Io) and photon current (Ipv) are examined in order to identify parameters of the equivalent single diode circuit models of the PV cells/modules. PV cells/modules from different manufacturers are used in order to control accuracy of equivalent modelling and results have been compared with the other analytical models in the literature. Current vs. Voltage graphs of the examined PV modules are simulated and compared with experimental results supplied by manufacturers. The results validates that, modelled parameters for PV modules are matched with the values obtained from other analytical models. Current vs Voltage (I-V) graphs obtained using calculated parameters are same as the I-V graphs resulted from experimental datas. Graphs are also perfectly matched with the other graphs obtained using optimum parameters of the models with two diodes in the literature. Moreover this model is more useful when considering ignored parameters.