The outdoor performance of different PV systems in tropical climate conditions in Thailand

Abstract

The environmental factors of solar irradiance and module temperature greatly affect the performance of any Photovoltaic (PV) technology. Different PV technologies may react differently to variations in these environmental factors. In this paper, six different PV technologies were measured in the tropical climate of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Thailand. The types of PV technologies included in this study are; hydrogenated amorphous silicon single-junction, micromorph, copper indium gallium selenide, monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon and hetero-junction with intrinsic thin film. The annual average daily solar radiation (Ei) and ambient temperature (Tamb) are approximately 4.9 kWh/m2 and 33.4°C, respectively. The highest output among all the PV systems with the highest monthly Performance Ratio (PR) was obtained with an a-Si:H PV system. The PR was 82.2%. Thin-film technologies maintain a more stable outdoor efficiency compared to crystalline silicon technologies.