Analysis Model of Mismatch Power 2 PV System Description

The PV system under study is a grid connected PV system of

Losses in PV Systems 9.54 kWp installed at the Centre de Développement des Energies
Renouvelables 共CDER兲 in Alger. The PV system is formed by 90
A. Chouder PV modules of 106 Wp, from Isofotón, organized in three arrays.
Each array is composed of 30 PV modules, Ns = 15 and N p = 2,
S. Silvestre including a monophasic inverter of 2.5 kW. The PV system output
is connected to the Sonelgaz grid, 220 V–50 Hz.
e-mail: santi@eel.upc.edu
A set of measurements has been carried out using a PVPM
2540 I-V curve tracer on a single PV module randomly chosen
Departament D⬘Enginyeria Electrónica, among one of the PV arrays. Some I-V curves of a PV module and
UPC, of the whole array have also been measured under different con-
Mòdul C4, ditions of irradiance and temperature, and main parameters have
Campus Nord UPC C/Jordi Girona 1-3, been evaluated. Evolution of main parameters, voltages, currents,
Barcelona 08034, Spain and power has also been monitored in real time for one of the PV
modules and for the whole array, as well as temperature and irra-
diance levels.
During the dc power transmission from the photovoltaic array
A novel procedure to extract and analyze the power losses, mainly to the main box, near the power conditioning unit, there will be
due to mismatch effects, in a photovoltaic (PV) system is pre- some voltage drops and energy losses mainly due to the cables
sented. The developed model allows the extraction of the main PV ensuring a string connection between modules and array-main box
module and PV array parameters from I-V characteristics, as well connections. In this work the total wiring and blocking diode
as in dynamic behavior under real conditions of work. The method losses, in a branch of the PV generator, are evaluated by the fol-
allows a good estimation of the mismatch effect on the total PV lowing relation:
system power losses. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.3097275兴 15 14

Keywords: power losses, mismatch effects, PV modules Pwiring = 兺

i=1
Vdi · Ipv + 兺R
i=1
2
ws · Ipv + Rmc · I2pv 共1兲

1 Introduction
Photovoltaic is a modular and scalable technology. Solar cells
are connected in series and also in parallel to obtain PV modules
with determinate output voltages, currents, and power. In the same
way, modules are connected too, in series and parallel, in order to
form an array in photovoltaic generation plants. Some authors
have identified and analyzed the various causative mechanisms of
losses in PV systems 关1–7兴. Array performances depend strongly
on the variability of the modules that comprise the array and solar
cells forming the PV modules 关1,2兴, and also in the kind of series
and parallel connections of the PV modules in the network 关1–3兴.
Differences on the main parameters of solar cells forming part
of a PV module introduce deviations on the PV module perfor-
mance known as mismatch effects. The effect of mismatch is
more important in PV arrays, where the modules present different
behaviors under standard conditions 共STCs兲 of work. This will be
translates as power losses of the PV generator, with respect to the
where Vdi = 0.7 is the voltage drop across one blocking diode, Rws
is the resistance of string wires, Rmc is the resistance of the main
cable, and Ipv is the PV module current
3 Analysis of I-V Characteristics and Parameter Ex-
traction
Some I-V curves of a PV module and of the whole array have
been measured under different conditions of irradiance and tem-
perature, and main parameters have been evaluated.
First we measured the current-voltage characteristic of a single
module, randomly chosen, and after we measured the whole array
current-voltage characteristic. Module and array parameters are
obtained by using combinations of nonlinear regressions 关7–10兴,
taking into account parameters such as the series resistance Rs, the
shunt resistance R p, and the diode ideality factor n. On the other
side, analytical expressions are used to find the short circuit cur-
rent Isc and the diode reverse saturation current I0. In order to
model current-voltage curves, the classical one diode model,
shown below by Eq. 共2兲, was applied.

冋 冉 冊 册冉
expected generated power from manufacturer specifications of the
PV modules, given at STC. Mismatch has been identified as one
of the most important factors of power losses in PV applications
关4–6兴. The electrical performance degradation of PV systems is
I = Iph − I0 exp
V + R sI
nVt
−1 −
V + Rs · I
Rsh
冊 共2兲

mainly caused by electrical mismatch, transmission losses from where I and V are the current and voltage, Rs is the series resis-
cell surface soiling and steep angle of reflectance, electrical losses tance, Rsh is the shunt resistance, Iph is the photogenerated current,
from field wiring resistance, and voltage drop across blocking I0 is the saturation current, n is the ideality factor, and Vt is the
diodes 关7兴. Analytical expressions helping to predict series-string thermal voltage.
losses have been proposed from studies that consider the output New parameters have been introduced in Eq. 共2兲 with the pur-
current as a random variable following the Weibull distribution pose of computer handling. The new parameters are given by the
关5兴. following equations:
The purpose of this work is to present experimental and mod-
Iph + I0 = a 共3兲
eling results on the mismatch effects of PV modules, with special
attention to the generation losses due to this effect. A new proce-
I0 = − b 共4兲
dure based on parameter extraction and MATLAB simulation allows
a good approach to the total power losses present in a PV system 1
due to this effect. c= 共5兲
n · Vt

Contributed by the Solar Energy Engineering Division of ASME for publication d = c · Rs 共6兲
in the JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING. Manuscript received February 13,
2008; final manuscript received January 8, 2009; published online April 2, 2009.
Review conducted by Aldo Steinfeld.
f = Rsh 共7兲

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 This gives the following modified current-voltage equation from
Eq. 共2兲:

I = a + b exp共cV + dI兲 −
冉 冊
V+
dI
c
共8兲
f
A nonlinear regression method was applied to both data sets 共mea-
sured I-V curves of the PV module and whole array兲 in order to
minimize the following equation.
N

S共␪兲 = 兺 关I − I共V , ␪兲兴

i=1
i i
2
共9兲

where ␪ = 共a , b , c , d , f兲 is the vector containing the five parameters

to be extracted.
The derivative function,
⳵ S共␪兲 Fig. 1 Simulated versus Measured I-V characteristics of PV
F共␪兲 = =0 共10兲
⳵␪ module and 3.18 kWp PV array

produces a number of nonlinear functions equal to the number of

parameters.
The system becomes

冤 冥
N
⳵ I共Vi, ␪兲 ⳵ F共a兲 ⳵ F共a兲 ⳵ F共a兲 ⳵ F共a兲 ⳵ F共a兲
F共␪k兲 = 兺 关I − I共V , ␪兲兴 ·
i=1
i i
␪k
for 共k = 1, . . . ,5兲 共11兲 ⳵a
,
⳵b
,
⳵c
,
⳵d
,
⳵f
⳵ F共b兲 ⳵ F共b兲 ⳵ F共b兲 ⳵ F共b兲 ⳵ F共b兲
where Vi and Ii are the real measured values of the I-V curves. , , , ,
⳵a ⳵b ⳵c ⳵d ⳵f
The Newton method has been used to approximate the solution
for system equations given by Eq. 共11兲. ⳵ F共c兲 ⳵ F共c兲 ⳵ F共c兲 ⳵ F共c兲 ⳵ F共c兲
J共␪兲 = , , , , 共13兲
The iterative Newton process is given by the following expres- ⳵a ⳵b ⳵c ⳵d ⳵f
sion:
⳵ F共d兲 ⳵ F共d兲 ⳵ F共d兲 ⳵ F共d兲 ⳵ F共d兲
, , , ,
关␪k兴 = 关␪k−1兴 − 关J共␪k−1兲兴−1关F共␪k−1兲兴 共12兲 ⳵a ⳵b ⳵c ⳵d ⳵f
where k is the kth iteration and J共␪兲 is the Jacobian matrix given ⳵ F共f兲 ⳵ F共f兲 ⳵ F共f兲 ⳵ F共f兲 ⳵ F共f兲
, , , ,
by ⳵a ⳵b ⳵c ⳵d ⳵f

Fig. 2 SIMULINK model for power losses evaluation

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 Once the parameters a, b, c, d, and f have been extracted, the Table 1 Main characteristic parameters extracted
main PV module and PV array parameters Iph, I0, n, Rs, and R p
can be calculated from Eqs. 共3兲–共7兲. Average PV
Characteristic Single PV module Manufacturer
Figure 1 shows the measured I-V characteristic of a single Iso- parameters module 共from array parameters兲 data
foton 106-12 PV module versus results obtained in the simulated
I-V characteristic, using the parameters obtained in the method Rs 共⍀兲 0.083 0.33 -
described above. A comparison between the measured I-V charac- R p 共⍀兲 194.55 198.88 200
teristic of the PV array and the results obtained from simulation is n 1.038 1.038 -
also shown in Fig. 1. These simulations have been carried out Isco 共A兲 6.6 6.75 6.54
under MATLAB environment 关11兴. Voco 共V兲 21.3 21.32 21.6
To quantify the approximation level of the model with respect Imppo 共A兲 5.9 5.95 6.1
to the measurements, we used the following indicators, which are Vmppo 共V兲 16.9 16.21 17.4
reported on Fig. 1: root mean squared error 共RMSE兲 and E _ x. Pmppo 共W兲 98.8 96.39 106⫾ 5%

RMSE = 冑兺 1
N

N i=1
共Ical − Imeas兲2 共14兲
ule and the PV array, in order to predict power generation under
Xcal − Xmeas real conditions of irradiance and temperature. These expressions
E_x= · 100 共15兲 are given by the following:
Xmeas
G0
where E _ x is the deviation of certain values of interest, such as Imppo = Impp · 共16兲
the short circuit current Isc, the maximum power point current G

冉 冊
Impp, and the maximum power point Pmpp, with respect to the
calculated. Vmpp Tc−ref G0
Vmppo = + Vt · · ln
Figure 1 shows an RMSE error of 3.7% between real data and 1 + cT . 共Tc − Tc−ref兲 Tc G
simulation results for a single PV module. This value increases
until it reaches 11.36% when the characteristic of the whole array
is compared with simulation results. This important difference ob-
− Impp · Rs 冉 冊
G0
G
−1 共17兲

served in Fig. 1 can be explained taking into account real mis- where cT is the temperature coefficient of power, Tc is the cell
match between PV modules forming the array. The mismatch ef- temperature, Tc−ref = 25° C, G0 is the STC irradiance, and G is the
fect is analyzed in more details in Sec. 4. irradiance in the PV module plane.
The maximum power is then given by
4 Analysis of Mismatch Effects Pmppo = Imppo · Vmppo 共18兲
The translation procedure to standard test conditions, described For the complete representation of the I-V characteristic at
by Bendel and Wagner 关12兴, implemented in the PVPM 2540 I-V STC, the following relations are used to calculate the short circuit
curve tracer, was used to derive values at STCs for the short current and open circuit voltage at the same conditions:
circuit current Isco, the open circuit voltage Voco, the maximum
power point current Imppo, the maximum power point voltage G0
Isco = Isc · 共19兲
Vmppo, and the maximum power point Pmppo for both the PV mod- G

Fig. 3 Evolution of measured and simulated currents and measured irradiance, January
6, 2008

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 Fig. 4 Power evolution from simulations versus monitored power and mismatch power
losses obtained
Vmppo
Voco = Voc · 共20兲
Vmpp
Considering that all PV modules forming the PV array have the
same main characteristic parameters, it is possible to calculate the
main parameters of one of these PV modules. This PV module is
considered as an “average PV module” of the array.
These calculations allow the mismatch determination between
results obtained from monitored data of a single PV module and
main parameters obtained for the average PV module of the whole
array. Table 1 summarizes the results of PV module parameters
found by a combination of numerical method and analytical for-
mulation developed above.
In order to evaluate the mismatch losses due to parameters dis-
persion, a SIMULINK model, given in Fig. 2, was built. The calcu-
lated parameters have been introduced in the PV module model to
evaluate the evolution of currents, voltages, and power generation
under real condition of irradiance and temperature. Figure 3
shows the measured irradiance profile used in these simulations.
The results obtained for the current evolution are also shown in
Fig. 3. As can be seen a good agreement is observed between the
measured current and current simulation results using the average
PV module parameters. More important differences appear be-
tween measured current and simulation results obtained using pa-
rameters extracted from a single PV module. This can be ex-
plained taking into account mismatch between the different
modules forming the PV array.
Figure 4 shows the evolution of the generated power obtained
in the simulations, taking into account wiring losses defined by
Eq. 共1兲, and the real evolution. Here again, the results obtained
from simulations considering the average PV module parameters
have a good fitting with real monitored data. The results obtained
from simulations including the PV module parameters of a single
module are more optimistic than the real generated power. The
difference between the results obtained at both simulations can be
assumed as power losses due to mismatch between PV modules
forming the whole array. Power losses associated with the mis-
match effect are plotted in Fig. 4. These power losses represent
024504-4 / Vol. 131, MAY 2009
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approximately 10% of the total generated power. These losses are
in the range of power losses associated with the mismatch effect
reported in previous studies 关6兴.
5 Conclusions
A new procedure to analyze the power losses, mainly due to
mismatch effects, in a PV system is presented. The developed
model allows the extraction of the main PV module parameters
and the reproduction of I-V characteristic. The procedure allows
the PV system behavior in dynamic behavior to be reproduced
under real conditions of work.
Power losses around the 10% have been observed in this study
associated with mismatch between PV modules forming the PV
array. The importance of the total power lost, associated with
mismatch, must be considered in the monitoring process of PV
generators, because the results are important for good supervision
and fault detection in PV generators. A good approach, including
mismatch studies, allows a better understanding of PV generators
real behavior and can help characterize PV systems under real
conditions of work.
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