An integrated review of factors influencing the perfomance of photovoltaic panels

The objective of this paper is to introduce the integration of the diverse factors that affect the performance of Photovoltaic panels and how those factors affect the performance of the system. Those factors include: environmental, PV system, installation, cost factors as well as other miscellaneous factors. Each of these factors is further classified into novel subcategories along with the reduction/increase effects of some factors on the system output. Solar irradiance, module temperature, dust accumulation, shading and soiling factors are some of the environmental concerns that have major effects. Panel's I-V characteristics, inverter, battery and panel efficiencies, panel material, atomic structure and band-gap energy are some of the system factors. As for the installation factors, cable characteristics, angle of inclination, mismatch effects, fixed/tracking PV mechanisms as well as MPPT are crucial to consider. Concerning the cost factors, the cables and the overall system costs are to be taken into consideration especially during payback period calculations. Other miscellaneous factors have a role in affecting the performance of the system such as degradations in the PV panel, panel resistances, performance ratio, maintenance and cleaning, sizing of the system as well as the surface area of the panel. The study results shall help both practitioners and researchers in having an inclusive overview about the several factors that can have an effect on the performance of the PV panels by removing the burden of having to search several studies under each category of factors. Moreover, researchers can build on this study by researching new ways to decrease the effect of certain factors which can further enhance the performance of the system. On the other hand, practitioners can introduce new systems that can be physically implemented in our daily lives to hinder the effect of factors negatively affecting PV panels’ performance.

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