Author(s)

Kashif Ali, Yanbing Jia, Muhammad Abbas^*, Syed Arslan Bukhari

79 West Yingze Street, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China.

Environmental conditions such as wind, temperature and humidity affect the amount of solar irradiance received by the photovoltaic (PV) cells and thus have a significant effect on the PV output efficiency. This paper aims to analyze the power efficiency of Polycrystalline Silicon solar cells under China’s weather considering these environmental conditions. Performance of the Polycrystalline solar panel is analyzed through eight months of data emphasizing the maximum, average and minimum temperature acquired from a solar power plant installed at Taiyuan University of technology, China consisting of 78 PV panels with a total rated capacity of 20 KW and average module efficiency of 16.56% at an ambient temperature of 25°. The results of our practical investigations show that polycrystalline solar cells in October yield the best monthly average efficiency of 35.6% at an average temperature and humidity level of 14°C and 44%. In comparison to a maximum temperature of 27°C and humidity of 66% in summer, the efficiency is found to drop by 5%. Also, the power produced in winter at minimum temperature and the efficiency showed a decline of 15% compared to that of October. Consequently, this investigation leads to a conclusion that the increase in temperature and humidity together is found to have a negative effect on the efficiency whereas the increase in irradiance and wind speed showed an improvement in the output power of the polycrystalline solar cells.

Efficiency, Polycrystalline, Photovoltaics, Weather Effects

Ali, K. , Jia, Y. , Abbas, M. and Bukhari, S. (2019) Environmental Effects on the Performance of Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells under Long-Term Outdoor Exposure in Taiyuan, China. Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 7, 15-27. doi: 10.4236/jpee.2019.711002.