Published Paper Details:

Outdoor performance measurement of Photovoltaic (PV) module was conducted at Pondicherry University campus, Puducherry, India (Latitude: 12.0107o and Longitude: 79.856o). Mono-crystalline silicon PV module of 75 W with active area of 0.5625 m2, containing 36 cells of 12.5 x 12.5 cm2 in series mounted on a rack held at 120 elevation towards facing south was employed for this study. Output current and voltages of outdoor exposed silicon PV module with respect to the solar irradiance was measured continuously for the entire duration of a day. Optical pyranometer was used to record the corresponding solar irradiance. The temporal output characteristics with respect to the time and irradiance were analyzed to understand the impact of irradiance on the output performance. It was found that the current output is highly sensitive to the climatic condition rather than the output voltage. The average efficiency and the daily integrated efficiency of the PV module was found to be ~ 13.10% and 13.04% respectively that were less than its standard test condition value. The reasons for this drop in efficiency were investigated and reported.