Simple and easy approach for mathematical analysis of photovoltaic (PV) module under normal and partial shading conditions

Abstract This paper presents a detailed modeling and analysis of photovoltaic (PV) module using MATLAB-Simulink. The simulation study utilizes single and two-diode model to represent the PV cell and the results are analysed under normal and partial shading conditions. The PV module performance is influenced by the environmental variables, especially temperature and irradiance level. Under partial shading conditions, the solar irradiance level on each PV cell in a PV system is uneven. This degrades the PV module performance and causes the output characteristic curves to have multiple peaks. Therefore, the PV module is modeled to analyse the performance under such conditions. This paper is divided into two parts. First, a detailed mathematical modeling of PV module using single and two-diode model is analysed during aforesaid conditions. The obtained results are compared in terms of the number of unknown parameters, accuracy, and computation time to justify the advantages and disadvantages of each model. Next, different types of PV modules (i.e. monocrystalline and multi-crystalline) are simulated to justify the precision of the two-diode model as well as the accurateness of the PV simulator.