0.01–0.5 sun is a realistic and alternative irradiance window to analyze urban outdoor photovoltaic cells

Abstract

Solar cells have penetrated many cities as Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) or the energy source for standalone Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Traditionally, photovoltaic (PV) cells are evaluated using 1 sun irradiance. However, in a city, factors such as air pollution, cloudiness and cell installation orientation may attenuate the receivable solar energy. Also, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a PV cell is highly irradiance-dependent. Evaluating urban outdoor PV cells using 1 sun irradiance could lead to inaccurate prediction of PCE and overestimated output power in actual usage. Herein, we analyzed daytime irradiances of 11 cities located across the globe. Our results show that realistic irradiance (RI) in most cities is between 0.01 and 0.5 sun, reflecting the irradiance under a cloudy to mostly sunny sky. Under such an RI window, the PCEs of 9 different PV technologies were compared. 7 PV technologies have compromised performance. 2 PV technologies, organic and perovskite PVs, show enhanced PCE under the RI window and are favorable for urban outdoor applications. The potential of powering IoT devices by these PV technologies under sub-optimal irradiance conditions in cities is also highlighted.