The effect of interconnecting solar cells in the PV module on the power output

Photovoltaic solar fields are deployed in multiple collector rows. The second and subsequent rows see the sky with a smaller angle than the first row resulting from obscuring part of the sky by the preceding rows. This leads to a decrease in the diffuse incident radiation reaching these rows. Moreover, different parts along the collector width see the sky with a different angle, expressed by the view factor, therefore solar cells on the top of the collector receives higher diffuse radiation than solar cells on the bottom of the collectors. As solar cells are connected in series in PV modules, the photocurrent generated by the cells of the bottom row of the module is lower than the photocurrents of the cells in the other rows. As a result, there is a current mismatch between the cells in the different rows leading to a decrease in the module's output power. A new interconnection of the cells in the module is proposed whereby the solar cells in each row of the module are connected in parallel. This arrangement will reduce current mismatch and improve the performance of the module in the PV field. The experimental study shows that the current mismatch between the top and the bottom modules of the collector is above 5% and the power mismatch between the modules is about 4%.