Irradiance modelling for individual cells of shaded solar photovoltaic arrays

•Methodology to calculate shading on PV arrays with minimal computational load.•Near and far obstructions are considered in a three-dimensional reference frame without loss of accuracy.•Both isotropic as well as anisotropic diffuse models can be utilised as well as sophisticated shading patterns.•Ce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy 2014-12, Vol.110, p.410-419
Main Authors: Goss, Brian, Cole, Ian, Betts, Thomas, Gottschalg, Ralph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation
Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering
Electrical power engineering
Electromagnetism
Energy
Equipments, installations and applications
Exact sciences and technology
Irradiance
Mismatch
Natural energy
Photoelectric conversion
Photovoltaic
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaic conversion
Radiation
Shading
Solar
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
Solar radiation
Validation studies
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Summary:•Methodology to calculate shading on PV arrays with minimal computational load.•Near and far obstructions are considered in a three-dimensional reference frame without loss of accuracy.•Both isotropic as well as anisotropic diffuse models can be utilised as well as sophisticated shading patterns.•Cell by cell irradiance calculation. Developments in Photovoltaic (PV) design software have progressed to modelling the string or even the module as the smallest system unit but current methods lack computational efficiency to fully consider cell mismatch effects due to partial shading. This paper presents a more efficient shading loss algorithm which generates an irradiance map of the array for each time step for individual cells or cell portions. Irradiance losses are calculated from both near and far obstructions which might cause shading of both beam and diffuse irradiance in a three-dimensional reference field. The irradiance map output from this model could be used to calculate the performance of each solar cell individually as part of an overarching energy yield model. A validation demonstrates the calculation of shading losses due to a chimney with less than one percent error when compared with measured values.
ISSN:0038-092X
1471-1257
DOI:10.1016/j.solener.2014.09.037