Investigating the Effects of Temperature and Relative Humidity on Performance Ratio of a Grid Connected Photovoltaic System

Abstract

The size and the cost of photovoltaic (PV) systems are dependent on the performance ratio of solar cells. Current studies in literature usually determines the size according to the total solar radiation received on the surface of solar modules. However, it is a fact that the energy output of a solar module is also effected by weather conditions of the location where the system is mounted. Thus for an efficient design, weather conditions must be taken into consideration to determine the size. In this paper the performance ratio of an existing photovoltaic system was established and the effect of weather conditions on the energy conversion was analyzed. For this purpose, the reference yield of the system was estimated in terms of solar radiation components received on the surface of solar modules for a specific period. Then the performance ratio was calculated by dividing the measured final yield to the estimated reference yield. In conclusion the change in performance ratio was discussed for different temperature and relative humidity values. Finally, the effect of meteorological inputs on PV system performance is investigated based on a back propagation artificial neural network approach. In conclusion, theoretical and computational results are evaluated.