Electric power output of PV power systems with enviromental factors at various districts in Japan

Abstract

For the optimum design of photovoltaic power generation systems, it is important to estimate their annual electric power output. Annual electric power output of photovoltaic arrays are affected by the environmental factors such as cell temperature, intensity and spectral distribution of solar radiation. But we don't keep the annual data for spectral distribution of solar radiation at all the districts in Japan
In this study, we propose a theoretical method to estimate the spectral distribution of solar radiation by using air mass, clear index and precipitation. The calculated values of seasonal output for the photovoltaic modules are compared with the experimental ones measured in our campus. Moreover we calculate the electric output of photovoltaic systems by using the proposed method with the environmental factors at 14 districts in Japan.
As a result, it is found from viewpoint of annual electric power output that photovoltaic power generation systems constructed by amorphous silicon solar cells are effective in southern part of Japan, on the other hand, polycrystalline silicon solar cells are useful in northern part of Japan.