A single procedure for helping PV designers to select silicon PV modules and evaluate the loss resistances

When a photovoltaic system is to be sized, different PV modules are considered. The optimisation of such systems is always the goal, but the choice of the PV module with best performance should also be considered. Nevertheless, selecting a module from catalogue data has certain inconveniences. First, because those data allow only comparisons with absolute magnitudes, the conclusions about which module is the most appropriate is not easy. Second, data provided in catalogues are not sufficient to know the module behaviour under conditions different from standard. This paper deals with the normalisation of the modules data by considering a base that allows for obtaining a "per unit" representation. For modelling and studying the modules under non-standard conditions it is necessary to know series and shunt resistances, but that is not easy. Then, by simulations, it is possible to show the influence of these resistances in the module behaviour. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.