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Influence of ambient temperature on the amount of electric energy produced

by solar modules

Conference Paper · July 2009

Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Influence of ambient temperature on the amount
of electric energy produced by solar modules.
Tomasz Kozak, Witold Marańda, Andrzej Napieralski Gilbert De Mey, A. De Vos
Department of Microelectronics and Computer Science Faculty of Engineering
Technical University of Lodz Gent University
Lodz, Poland Gent, Belgium

Abstract—An efficiency of photovoltaic panel depends from 7,0

its temperature. The general rule is the higher temperature the
6,0
lower efficiency. The temperature of PV-panel is integration of

Total daily solar energy []kWh/m2]

few factor and one of them is ambient (air) temperature therefore 5,0
the air temperature has influence on amount of produced electric
energy. In order to investigate if the ambient temperature has a 4,0
positive or negative effect many simulations were made and the 3,0
results are presented in this article.
2,0
Index Terms—photovoltaic panel, ambient temperature, PV 1,0
efficiency
0,0
I. Introduction

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289

A typical photovoltaic module is built as array of multiple
interconnected photovoltaic cells, which convert solar into
electric energy. Solar modules are widely used in many types
of applications like small electronic devices e.g. calculators
and bigger installations used to power up e.g. spacecrafts or
households. Sun provides great amount of energy to Earth
surface, therefore some predictions say the production of
electricity from solar energy is one of the solutions to the
world rising power consumption. Moreover it is very
environmentally friendly way of energy acquiring and it helps
to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide and other harmful
compounds emitted to the atmosphere which cause the
greenhouse effect. As it is well known, the efficiency of
photovoltaic cells depends on theirs temperature. The general
rule is the higher temperature the lower the PV-efficiency.
Solar cell temperature depends mainly on three factors:
ambient (air) temperature, thermal resistance of the package,
which is used to encapsulate a solar panel and a solar power,
which panel receive from sun. One can try to adjust value of
the thermal resistance by e.g. changing chemical composition
of used material or by using other production process and
technology, but one doesn’t have an influence on the air
temperature and solar power. Some extra cooling system can
be always used to cool down a solar panel, but this kind of
installations always use energy and increase costs. Therefore it
is desirable to investigate the influence of the ambient air
temperature on the amount of produced electric energy.
II. Research results
A. General results
The results were obtained by a custom-made software,
using the weather data, like direct and indirect solar radiation
and air (ambient) temperature. The weather data are real
measurements for a statistical standard year in Belgium
(latitude 51 degrees north) [1].
321
337
353
17
33
49
65
81
97
1
Day of year
Figure 1 – Incoming daily solar energy during a standard year
The amount of incoming solar energy is much bigger in
summer months than in winter ones( Fig. 1). One can observe
that the daily amount of incoming energy may be very
fluctuating , because of cloudiness. That is why during some
cloudy days in summer the amount of solar energy is smaller
than in sunny winter day even if the day is then much shorter.
The biggest value of energy of the standard year received in
day 151 ( 31st of May) is 6.355 kWh/m2, what may be
confusing, because the year longest day is 22 June, but as it
was mentioned weather - particularly cloudiness – has a great
influence on the results. The lowest number is 0.062 kWh/m2
on 23 of December which is 357th day of the year.
Total amount of solar energy during the standard year is
820.83 kWh/m2, which corresponds to 93.70 W/m2as the
average for a year :
Eave = Esolar_year / (365∙24) =820.83 kWh/m2 / 8760 h = =
93.70 W/ m2
B. Theoretical PV - panel
In order to calculate amount of electric energy produced
from solar energy one has to know the value of the panel
efficiency, which is defined by :
η = Pout / Pin= Pelectric / Psolar (1)
where:
Pout - output power (Pelectric - electric power), Pin - input
power (Psolar – solar power)
The value of η is measured under Standard Test Conditions
(STC) and is available in every solar panel datasheet. STC
specifies a temperature of 25°C and a normal irradiance of
1000 W/m2 with air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) spectrum. These
correspond to the irradiance and spectrum of sunlight incident
on a clear day upon a sun-facing 37°-tilted surface with the
sun at an angle of 41.81° above the horizon [2].

1
 In this article the efficiency is assumed to be linear
where a and b are the coefficients calculated from Fig. 2.
approximated to curve determine by the two points:
a = - 6.66 ∙ 10-4 [1/°C]
η = 10% for T = 20°C
b = 0.113
η = 6% for T = 80°C
The electric energy production for the three different cases are
where T is temperature of solar panel. The PV-efficiency in obtained by integrating (3), (4), (5) over a whole year:
function of cells’ temperature is presented in figure 2. Eη(const) = 79.09 kWh/m2

11
Eη(Tambient) = 84.63 kWh/m2
PV-efficiency [%]

9 Eη(Tambient+RthPsolar) = 68.31 kWh/m2

7
One can calculate difference between Eη(const) and Eη(Tambient)
5 that is the difference between energy produced with constant
0 20 40 60 80 100 efficiency of panel in STC temperature and energy produced
Solar panel temperature [°C] by solar panel which temperature is always equal to air
temperature.
Figure 2. – Effect of panel temperature on the its efficiency
ΔE1=Eη(const)-Eη(Tambient) =-5.54 kWh/m2 (6)
The temperature of solar panel can be calculated as: This energy can be regarded as a energetic benefit from
Tsolar __panel= Tambient + Rth∙Psolar (2) ambient temperature influence and as one can notice it is
around 7% of energy which may be received in the STC
where: conditions (see 7)
Tambient – solar panel ambient temperature [°C], Rth – |ΔE1|/Eη(const)=(5.54/ 79.09)∙100%=7.01% (7)
2
thermal resistance of solar panel [°C∙m /W], Psolar The energy reduction due to the influence of the ambient
temperature and thermal resistance (Rth = 0.08 [°C∙m2/W]) is:
The value of Rth depends on the materials used to construct the
ΔE2=Eη(const)-Eη(Tambient+RthPsolar)=10.77 kWh/m2 (8)
solar panel and on the heat transfer coefficient.
|ΔE2|/Eη(const)=(10.77/ 79.09)∙100%=13.62% (9)
In this article the following value of Rth will be used in the
calculations: It is shown that warming up of solar cells due to the thermal
resistance is a reason of huge losses of electric energy, which
Rth = 0.08 [°C∙m2/W] are equal almost 14% of energy, which would be produced in
STC environment (see 9).
which was obtained from experimental measurements.
The integration of 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 has also been carried out for
every month. The results are shown in Fig. 3.
Let’s consider three cases: 14,0
Eη(const)
Electric energy [kWh/m2]

1) One establish a constant value of solar panel 12,0 Eη(Tamb)

efficiency η(Tsolar_panel)=η(const). The value of efficiency is 10,0 Eη(Tamb+RthEsolar)
determined to be η(Tsolar_panel)=9.63%, what is corresponding 8,0
to the efficiency from Fig. 2 for Tambient = 25°C. It is a STC 6,0
standard temperature, which is used during measuring every 4,0
solar panel parameters.
2,0
2) It is assumed that solar panels have the same 0,0
temperature as the ambient: η(Tsolar_panel)=η(Tambient).
3) The real solar cell temperature is take into account:
η(Tsolar_panel)=η(Tambient+Rth∙Psolar).
Month of year
Next one can write formulae used to calculate electric Figure 3 – Electric energy produced in specific months
power for the cases mentioned above: The produced energy grows rapidly in summer months
1) Pelectric = Psolar ∙ ηconst = Psolar∙ 9.63% (3) what is obvious, because of much longer day and bigger solar
radiation. The amount of electrical energy which can be
2) Pelectric = Psolar∙ (a∙Tsolar_panel + b) (4) produced in June is around five times bigger than in January
3) Pelectric =Psolar∙ (a∙Tsolar_panel + a∙Rth∙Psolar+b) (5) or December. The great part of total yearly production of
electricity is located in 2nd and 3rd quarter of year, what of

2
course is a disadvantage as one observes much bigger As before one considers the same three cases -
consumption of energy during 1st and 4th quarter. As one can η(Tsolar_panel)=η(const), η(Tsolar_panel)=η(Tambient) and
see from Fig. 3 the largest differences between case 1 and case η(Tsolar_panel)=η(Tambient+Rth∙Psolar), but now constant value of
3 occur in summer. In winter time these differences are much PV-efficiency is set to η(const) = 8.75%, as the efficiency of
smaller. real panel which corresponds to STC conditions.
Average ambient temperature (Tamb_ave) and level of solar The electric energy production over a whole year for the three
radiation determine differences between individual examined different cases has been calculated:
cases. Fig. 4 presents these results.
Eη(const) = 71.82 kWh/m2
3,5 ΔE1=Eη(const) -Eη(Tamb) 22
ΔE2=Eη(const) - Eη(Tamb+RthEsolar) Eη(Tambient) = 77.42 kWh/m2
3,0

Average monthly temperature [°C]

Tamb_ave
17 Eη(Tambient+RthPsolar) = 50.03 kWh/m2
Electric energy differences

2,5
2,0 As one see received values are smaller than in the section B,
12
[kWh/m2]

1,5 because now the PV-efficiency curve shown in Fig. 5 is laying

lower than that one on Fig. 2, so one received generally lower
1,0
7 PV-efficiency than before.
0,5
As before one calculates the difference between Eη(const) and
0,0 2 Eη(Tambient) as measure of influence of ambient temperature.
-0,5
Δ1E1=Eη(const)-Eη(Tambient) = -5.60 kWh/m2 (10)
-1,0 -3
Month of year As one see it is around 7.8% of electric energy in theoretical
Figure 4– Electric energy differences in specific months STC conditions (see 11).
One can notice that an increasing solar radiation, |Δ1E1|/Eη(const) =(5.60/ 71.82)∙100% =7.79% (11)
proportional to the solar energy (Esolar), causes a great increase
of difference between Eη(const) and Eη(Tambient+RthPsolar) (case 1 and
The value of Δ1E1 for real PV-panel is almost equal to
theoretical calculated ones (see 6), because as one can observe
case 3). This means more electrical energy is lost in
the difference between efficiency curve of for real and
comparison with electrical energy received for constant
theoretical one is almost constant for temperature lower than
efficiency (STC conditions). The difference between Eη(const)
36°C. That is why, decrease of Eη(const) is similar to Eη(Tambient)
and Eη(Tambient) doesn’t grow so fast and its smaller during
one. Reduction of electricity due to the influence of the
summer. The reason of it can be average monthly temperature ambient temperature and thermal resistance (Rth = 0.08
for summers months is much closer to STC conditions. At the [°C∙m2/W]) is:
same time one can see that difference between Eη(const) and
Eη(Tambient+RthPsolar) changes much more than Eη(const) and Δ1E2=Eη(const)-Eη(Tambient+RthPsolar)=21.79 kWh/m2 (12)
Eη(Tambient). 1
|Δ E2|/Eη(const)=(21.79/ 71.82) ∙ 100% = 30.33% (13)
One claims that influence of thermal resistance is more
The looses for real panel are over two times bigger than for
important than the ambient temperature. During a sunny day
theoretical one, so around 30% of energy produced in STC is
the solar panel may warm up to high temperature (T=80°C), wasted. The result shows that the thermal resistance has great
which gives rise to lower efficiencies. impact on amount of produced energy. The losses are so big
C. Real PV – panel because the efficiency curve for real panel goes sharply down
for temperatures over 44°C, so during hot, sunny days solar
In this part the experimentally observed PV-efficiency in panel efficiency is very low, because it may warm up to 80°C -
function of cells’ temperature, which is presented in Fig. 5, is 90°C.
used to make all calculation. [3]
The results for individual month are presented in Fig. 6:
12
11
10
PV-efficiency [%]

9
8
7
6
5 Real panel
4
Theoretical panel used in previous analysis
3
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56
Temperature [°C]
Figure 5– Effect of real panel temperature on the its efficiency

3
 14,0 Comparing Fig. 7 with Fig. 4 it is visible that losses caused by
Eη(const) influence of thermal resistance (ΔE2) are much higher for real
Electric energy [kWh/m2]

12,0
10,0
8,0
6,0
4,0
2,0
0,0
Month of year
Figure 6 – Electric energy produced in specific months for a real panel
The Fig. 6 shows that amount of the electricity produced in
summer is only around 2.5 times bigger than in spring or
autumn for case 3 due to very low efficiency of PV-panel at
high temperatures. One can notice that the largest amount of
energy can be produced in May which can be surprising
because solar radiation is larger in summer month. It is caused
by warming up of panel due to huge solar radiation, that cause
very low efficiency. It is easy noticeable that amount of
produced energy for case 2 (η(Tsolar_panel)=η(Tambient)) is always
higher than for case 1 (η(Tsolar_panel)=η(const),), which prove
ambient temperature has positive effect on electricity
production.
6,0
ΔE1=Eη(const) -Eη(Tamb)
Electric energy differences [kWh/m2]
Eη(Tamb) panel than theoretical one. Therefore in June the wasted
Eη(Tamb+RthEsolar) energy (ΔE2) is over 40% of energy produced in STC. Also
in May, July, August and September losses are really high,
what is the result of panel warming up caused by high solar
radiation present in this months. The opposite result can be
observed when one considers a difference between the Eη(const)
and Eη(Tambient) (ΔE1). In this case solar radiation doesn’t has
influence on panel temperature so losses are smaller in
summer, when average air temperature is closer to STC
condition. Average monthly efficiency of energy production is
proportional of average air temperature, therefore in summer
it is more similar to STC’s efficiency. Moreover, as it was
mentioned before real panel efficiency curve is parallel to
theoretical one for low temperatures. That is why the energy
difference (ΔE1) in Fig. 7 is almost the same like in
theoretically case presented in Fig. 4
III. Conclusions
The simulation for theoretical panel as well as for real one
shows that if one compares the electric energy received during
a standard year for case where η(T)=η(Tambient) to the energy
calculated for STC conditions more electricity can be
produced. Therefore one can say the ambient temperature has
positive effect. The main point is that the average air
temperature at latitude 51 degree north is never greater than
STC one, so the average efficiency must be better. However if
22 the thermal resistance of the solar panel is taken into account
the opposite result has been found. Due to the heating of the

ΔE2=Eη(const) - Eη(Tamb+RthEsolar)
Average monthly temperature [°C]

5,0 solar cell the overall efficiency turn out to be 14% lower for
Tamb_ave 17
theoretical panel and 30% for real panel.
4,0

12 REFERENCES
3,0
[1] R. Dogniaux. M. Lemoine, and R. Sneyers. Année – type moyenne
2,0 pour le traitement de problèmes de capitation d’énergie Solaire. Belgian Royal
7 Metrology Institute, Brussels, 1978.
1,0 [2] ASTM G 173-03, "Standard Tables for Reference Solar Spectral
2 Irradiances: Direct Normal and Hemispherical on 37° Tilted Surface," ASTM
0,0 International, 2003.

-1,0 -3
[3] Witold Marańda “Optimization of photovoltaic grid-connected
residential systems”, phd thesis, University of Gent 1998, p. 54
Month of year

Figure 7– Electric energy differences in specific months for real panel

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