Monitoring current-voltage characteristics of photovoltaic modules

The aim of the study was to build a system to monitor the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) modules subjected to outdoor conditions at the University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The monitoring of I-V characteristics, module temperature, ambient temperature, and irradiance will enable an analysis of module performance, degradation and or failure. In this paper the design of a low-cost system built to sequentially measure I-V characteristics of seven modules at regular intervals is discussed and an analysis of data obtained is presented.