A Novel Method for PV Module Performance Estimating Using Effective Irradiance

Output performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules is estimated based on the dependence of PV physical parameters on environmental factors. Solar irradiance is the most important environmental factor affecting photovoltaic output power generation. However, the measured irradiance does not accurately represent the actual solar energy absorbed by PV modules. In this paper, a novel method based on effective irradiance is proposed to estimate the output performance of PV modules under different operating conditions. In the proposed method, the strong correlation of irradiance, global horizontal irradiance and temperature with PV output power is utilized. The relationship between irradiance, global horizontal irradiance and temperature and effective irradiance is established through neural network. The obtained effective irradiance is brought into the existing conversion equation for PV module performance estimation. RMSE error analysis was performed under different weather types using a large amount of experimental data. The I-V, P-V curves and power prediction accuracy were also calculated. The results show that the method proposed has better accuracy and adaptability under different operating conditions.