Energy Yield Simulations of Interconnected Solar PV Arrays

The electrical characteristics of array interconnection schemes are investigated, using simulation models to find a configuration that is comparatively less susceptible to shadow problems and power degradation resulting from the aging of solar cells. Three configurations have been selected for comparison: simple series-parallel (SP) array, which has zero interconnection redundancy; total-cross-tied (TCT) array, which is obtained from the simple SP array by connecting ties across each row ofjunctions and which may be characterized as the scheme with the highest possible redundancy; and bridge-linked (BL) array, in which all cells are interconnected in bridge rectifier fashion. The explicit computer simulations for the energy yield and current-voltage distributions in the array are presented, which seem to favor cross-tied configurations (TCT and BL) in coping with the effects of mismatch losses.