Effect of Variation of Solar irradiance on the Inverter Output for a Grid connected PV system

Solar radiation received on the surface of the earth varies continuously due to many factors like the appearance of paths of clouds, accumulation of water droplets and dust particles in a particular section in the atmosphere, changes of the density of air with temperature, humidity etc. The most prominent factor in affecting the output of the solar panel is due to the appearance of a cloud in a particular section of the earth's surface. In some seasons of the year, appearance and disappearance of the patches of clouds are so frequent that solar PV output and subsequently inverter output connected to the grid-tied system suffers large fluctuations in voltage and currents. In this paper, a simulation-based study has been made to assess the variation of inverter output with the variation of solar irradiation. Main findings of this paper are the average hourly irradiance effect on inverter output and irradiance effect on certain load. A solar PV module of 2×3 and an inverter have been chosen for the simulation study.