On the Reliability of Photovoltaic Short-Circuit Current Temperature Coefficient Measurements

Conference · Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2015.7355842· OSTI ID:1251122

Osterwald, Carl R.; Campanelli, Mark; Kelly, George J.; Williams, Rafell

The changes in short-circuit current of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules with temperature are routinely modeled through a single parameter, the temperature coefficient (TC). This parameter is vital for the translation equations used in system sizing, yet in practice is very difficult to measure. In this paper, we discuss these inherent problems and demonstrate how they can introduce unacceptably large errors in PV ratings. A method for quantifying the spectral dependence of TCs is derived, and then used to demonstrate that databases of module parameters commonly contain values that are physically unreasonable. Possible ways to reduce measurement errors are also discussed.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1251122
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-5J00-63585
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at the 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 14-19 June 2015, New Orleans, Louisiana; Related Information: Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 14-19 June 2015, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
temperature coefficient
short-circuit current
photovoltaic cells
photovoltaic modules
photovoltaic databases