A simple and accurate model of photovoltaic modules for power system design

In this paper, a modeling technique for PV panels oriented to power electronics design is proposed. Existing models usually aim at accurately matching only a few remarkable points of the solar panel characteristics. Yet, power electronics designers aim at simulating the entire panel characteristics as accurately as possible to test the efficiency of sophisticated control algorithms. Furthermore, existing parameters identification procedures are usually based on manufacturers' data and related to the knowledge of physical parameters of the solar cell under test. Manufacturers' data are usually incomplete and physical parameters are not readily available to power electronics designers. A five lumped parameter model is applied to a Sanyo HIT-240HDE4 solar module. Five parameters are derived from manufacturers' data. A four lumped parameter model whose parameters are derived by a novel fitting procedure is then applied to the same solar module. Simulation results of both models and manufacturers' curves are compared to test the accuracy of proposed identification procedure.