Effect of External AC Electric and Magnetic Fields on the Power Production of a Silicon Solar Cell

One important issue is to evaluate the effect of external alternating current (ac) electric and magnetic fields on the photovoltaic (PV) power production of a PV cell. External ac electric and magnetic fields are often produced by ac power systems and devices and almost exist everywhere, which makes this issue even more crucial. This research work addresses this very important issue by presenting a novel comprehensive theoretical analysis and providing relevant experimental verifications. The outcome of this study demonstrates that the external ac electric field has no effect on the power production and open-circuit voltage of a PV cell/module, while the external ac magnetic field has a huge negative impact on the output power and open-circuit voltage of a PV cell/module. Moreover, this negative impact significantly intensifies by increasing the amount of the external ac magnetic field. Theoretical and experimental results presented in this study explicitly substantiate that to efficiently utilize PV power generation systems, locating them far from external magnetic fields is necessary.