Modelling effect of temperature and irradiance changes of Assa, Morocco on photovoltaic modules’ performance

Abstract

A mathematical representation of a photovoltaic (PV) solar cell and module performances is demonstrated in this paper. One diode based on the Shockley diode equation model is adopted for simulation and extract the performance indications. The simulated solar module is a particular 235W solar module operating in an existing 806.52 kWp grid connected photovoltaic power plant located at Assa, southern Morocco. The model demonstrates power-voltage (P-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristic curves with weather conditions changes. These external conditions include temperature and solar irradiance level (represented by sun unit 1sun=1000w/m2) which greatly affect the performance of the PV system. This paper also presents PV simulation with a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) converter and the general model was implemented in Matlab/Simulink software and used as an example verifying the performance of the tested module under Assa city weather variable.