Shading Effect on Solar Cell Efficiency

Abstract

The shadowing effect of photovoltaic's modules has a devastating impact on their performances since any shadow is able to keep down the electricity production. Therefore in the recent years new technologies and devices have come up in the photovoltaic's field in order to improve the performance. However, in order to know how these electronic products work when the shadows take place on the solar panels further investigations have to be done. The aim of this research is to use the change in electrical parameters with partial shading of PV solar cell. The experimental results show that the electrical parameter, such as the open circuit voltage (VOC), short circuit (ISC), maximum power (P max) and fill factor decreases when the shading area increases. These relationships between these parameters and dose level can be utilized as measuring the irradiation of the Sun (Solar irradiance).