Photovoltaic cell I-V characteristics: simulation versus measurement

Abstract

Among all renewable energy sources, solar energy has acquired the highest growth rate worldwide in the last years. The major application of solar energy is photovoltaic (PV) power generation. For an accurate study in different PV applications, it is very important to model the basic device of the PV cell. However, the model parameters are usually unavailable in the datasheet provided by the manufacturers and their values change over time due to the PV degradation. Thus, how to estimate appropriate parameters is of high importance. This work presents two methods for identifying the optimal parameters of a PV generating unit. In both methods the PV generator is simulated using the one diode model. The first method is based on grey wolf algorithm where the parameters of the model are identified using only datasheets provided my manufacturers, this algorithm is included in a SIMULINK simulation for constructing the I-V and P-V characteristics. The second method is based on an opposition- based particle swarm optimization algorithm where the objective function is derived from the experimental current-voltage data. These approaches are found to be useful for designers since they are simple, fast and provide accurate results. The analysis is performed on various PV modules under different environmental conditions. The final results are compared and discussed to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed work.