Estimation of operating condition frequency distribution and power prediction by extending application of IEC 61853-1 standard for different technology photovoltaic modules

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) module performance varies under actual outdoor environmental conditions, which can be better analyzed by relating performance with the frequency of different operating conditions. In this paper, the frequency of occurrence under the IEC 61853-1 standard has been exploited for proposing the concept of the frequency distribution of operating conditions for photovoltaic modules and analyzed for amorphous silicon, heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer, and multi-crystalline silicon PV technology modules simultaneously, from the measured data of 2 years at the site of the National Institute of Solar Energy, India. A relative comparison has been presented between different technology modules, and the most frequent operating condition (MFOC) has been obtained from the proposed frequency distribution under the IEC 61853-1 standard. The results show that MFOC and the maximum energy contribution of all technology modules co-existed under the same IEC 61853-1 condition centered at an irradiance of 800 W/m2 and a module temperature of 50 °C, which could be advantageous while formulating an alternate standard for better performance assessment as compared to the standard test condition (STC). The power deviation from STC under MFOC was estimated in the range of 23%–37% for different technology modules, which can lead to a significant impact in performance estimation. While considering the significance of MFOC, a model applicable to modules of variable sizes has been presented for future power prediction under MFOC. The results of the presented model showed good agreement with experimental results for all the technology modules. This work can be helpful for planners, installers, financers, and consumers for better estimation of PV performance.