Improving the efficientcy of photovoltaic power systems

Abstract

With the increase of the world’s population day by day, the demand of energy is increasing accordingly. Although oil and gas are the main energy resource in the world currently, experts say that this wouldn’t be the case in the next decades. The focus on renewable energies has increased and it gained the attention of nations around the globe. Solar energy and exactly photovoltaic (PV) systems are considered as one of the main energy resources especially in warm countries. One challenge is to have systems that operate with high efficiency. Our thesis reviews different methods to increase their efficiency. The main methods, which are, solar tracking, maximum power point tracking and cell cooling; are detailed and simulated using simulation dedicated software. Results show the significant improvement in PV systems efficiency when applying these methods.