Performance evaluation of grid-connected photovoltaic systems based on two photovoltaic module technologies under tropical climate conditions

Abstract The aim of this paper is to evaluate grid-connected photovoltaic systems based on two kinds of photovoltaic module technologies. This study presents a one-year evaluation of four grid-connected photovoltaic systems installed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, in Tsukuba in the northern Kantō region of Japan. Two grid-connected systems based on multi-crystalline: mc-Si and two other ones based on thin film technology namely copper indium selenium: CIS modules. The monitoring data have been collected for one year to make an evaluation of all possible changes in climate environment. The goal of this study is to define the characteristics, the behavior and the sensitivity of the grid-connected PV system to the environmental parameters. Various parameters were used for the outdoor performance evaluation of the four grid-connected PV systems; including performance ratio, temperature losses, final yield, reference yield, AC energy generated and system efficiency. It was found that the grid-connected PV systems based on mc-Si technology perform much better than the systems based on CIS. The annual average daily performance ratios of the systems based on mc-Si modules were found to be about 5.53% higher compared to those of the systems based on CIS module, and an annual average daily AC energy production about 42.85% higher than CIS.