Solar photovoltaic system under partial shading and perspectives on maximum utilization of the shaded land

Abstract

ABSTRACT Partial shading is a common cause for power reduction of photovoltaic (PV) modules. In this paper, the PV characteristics under partial shading are first investigated, based on the model considering reverse biased conditions. The whole-year performance of PV arrays is then simulated under three practical shading cases, including mutual shading, nearby pole shading and overhead wires shading. First, at a standard array distance, the annual energy loss of landscape arrays under mutual shading is 4.05%, while that of portrait arrays is 4.33%. The landscape arrangement has more energy output than portrait arrangement, making it a priority during PV installation. Second, the energy loss of the array built close to a 10-meter-high pole is 9.21%. If far enough from the pole, the array is partially shaded in winter, the loss will drop rapidly to less than 2%, indicating that a considerable portion of pole shading area could be explored for PV installation. Third, the yearly shading loss of PV arrays is only 0.42% and 1.39% caused by four east–west and north–south overhead wires, respectively, demonstrating the potential for PV development under wires. Moreover, the potential of utilizing the shaded land utilization from a new perspective has been highlighted. In the case of limited land resources, some suggestions are raised to achieve enhanced performance and maximum utilization of shaded land, to guide the PV deployment in real PV plants.