Long-Term Observation of Ambient Temperature Effects on the Performance of A 60 kW CIGS Solar Power System Installed in Miyazaki

Abstract

The effect of ambient temperature on the performance of a roof mounted Cu (In, Ga) Se2 [CIGS] photovoltaic (PV) system, which is installed in the suburb residential area of Miyazaki city, Japan, has been analyzed for the period of 2012-2017. The research work has been carried out by monitoring the variation of the performance of the PV array and PV system. The PV array and PV system with a higher ambient temperature period experience a lower performance. High ambient temperatures determine a decrease of output power performances in the same conditions of solar insolation. The results show that there is a fair negative linear relationship between ambient temperature and the performances of the PV array and PV system. A statistical analysis has also been done and the results indicate that the linear relationship between the ambient temperature and performance ratio is able to be reasonably applied, and the slope of the approximated straight lines are between -0.00230 [1/deg-C] and −0.00760 [1/deg-C]. In short, the elevating of ambient temperature contributed to the negative impact on the output performances of the PV array and PV system.