Modeling of I-V characteristics for crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules based on a simplified equivalent circuit and a temperature correction

Abstract

Electric power generated by photovoltaic (PV) systems is generally unstable because of uncertain meteorological conditions. Stably maintaining the supply-demand balance of power systems requires an accurate prediction of the performance of PV systems. Especially for predicting the performance of the PV systems containing modules with different electrical characteristics or installed in different angles, it is necessary to calculate the generated power of the system by combining the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of each module in series and parallel. Therefore, an accurate method is required for estimating the I-V characteristics in various meteorological conditions. In this paper, a simple modeling method of the I-V characteristics for crystalline silicon PV modules is proposed. The I-V characteristics can be simulated in a good accuracy for practical use based on a simplified equivalent circuit of PV modules and a temperature correction of the short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and the current and voltage at maximum power point. The validity of the proposed method is examined by comparing simulated and measured I-V characteristics of a PV module. Furthermore, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modelling method, it was applied to simulating the power generation of a PV system containing modules installed in different angles.