Performance Evaluation of the Impacts of Metrological Parameters on Crystalline and Amorphous Modules at Minna, Nigeria

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) module performance is rated under standard test conditions (STC) i.e. irradiance of 1000 W/m², solar spectrum of Air Mass 1.5 and module temperature at 25°C. Manufacturers of photovoltaic modules typically provide the ratings at only one operating condition i.e. STC. However, PV module operates over a large range of environmental conditions at the field. So the manufacturer’s information is not sufficient to determine the actual performance of the module at field. Optimization of solar energy is affected by so many factors ranging from conversion efficiency of PV module to local metrological conditions. The research work therefore, evaluates the performance of three PV technologies using performance ratio. Metrological parameters such as solar radiation intensity, wind speed, relative humidity, and air temperature were measured simultaneously with the output electrical parameters from the three modules exposed to field test using metrological sensors and a CR1000 software-based data logging system with computer interface attached to the modules. Four years consecutives metrological and modules output data’s were collected from the modules and analyzed. The findings indicates that metrological parameters fluctuate non-linear with the modules output, under this conditions the trends as measured by the output power revealed that polycrystalline module has a better performance than amorphous module followed by mono-crystallinemodule in this experiment. The paper recommends the need to mitigate substandard modules entering our market through appropriate monitoring agencies and the setting of solar module laboratory for locally production of solar modules that would captures our local metrological parameters towards greater efficiency.