Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting: Experimental and Model Data Comparison

Energy harvesting in terms of electricity generation from green and cleaner sources is the need of the hour to minimize the carbon footprint. Energy generation in terms of electricity production is directly or indirectly responsible for vast amounts of CO2 emissions and global warming. Considering the types of greener sources, including solar, wind, and hydro, Solar-based energy generation is preferable, as it has a very minimal requirement compared to the other methods and can be installed in any location and of any capacity, starting from smaller plants on the roof-tops of households', industries and to a larger plant over empty lands. The PV panel is a prominent requirement, and its efficiency plays a significant role in setting up the plant. PV panels from numerous manufacturers are available in the market, but ensuring their efficiency before installation is essential. A comparative study would help in this purpose; this can be achieved by analyzing the panel's performance with its mathematical model developed with the panel parameters provided by the manufacturer and real-time analysis. This paper presents the steps involved in developing a mathematical model using MATLAB/Simulink and the comparison between the performance obtained from a mathematical model and an experimental setup where the PV panels are placed at a given local ambient conditions. The on-field measurements were conducted on three different days with different environmental conditions, and the same temperature and IR values were used to compute the mathematical model's performance. It has been observed that the ambient temperature fluctuation influences the panel's performance and overall energy production. Notably, a change in ambient temperature from 22.8 (degrees C) to 34.6 (degrees C) leads to a decrease in the fill factor has been noticed for both panels.