Outdoor study of partial shading effects on different PV modules technologies

Abstract Total or partial shading conditions have a significant impact rate on the capability of delivering energy, in addition to the on-site environmental condition which effects the PV module output production. Generally, the shading effect is caused by the PV generator inter-row configurations, cloudy perturbations, the buildings and trees. In this paper, an investigation study has been carried out by testing different PV module types (mono-crystalline, polycrystalline) under different shading rates. The obtained I-V characteristics have been treated through the Bishop model where the power losses occurred on the PV module output, have been evaluated. The measured and estimated I-V characteristic plots illustrated a good agreement and the used model provides an accurate power losses prediction caused by different shading effects, even in desert areas.