Effect of non-uniform irradiance on electrical characteristics of an assembly of PV panels

This paper presents the study of effect of non-uniform irradiance on electrical characteristics of an assembly of solar PV panel. Study is based on a one diode model of PV panel. Effect is simulated in MATLAB-Simulink environment. In a solar power plant series Parallel connections of PV panels are used for obtaining desired voltage and current level. Under mismatch or non-uniform irradiance condition a hot spot formation may damage the PV panel. A bypass diode is provided with PV panel to avoid hot spot formation. Under non-uniform irradiance condition, due to presence of bypass diode, I–V and P-V characteristics are quite different from that of uniform irradiance condition. Results obtained show the presence of multiple peaks in P-V characteristics under non-uniform irradiance. This establishes requirement of a non-conventional maximum power point tracker algorithm.