Solar Energy

Solar photovoltaic
• Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using
semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a
phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and
electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially utilized for
electricity generation and as photosensors.
• It is well-known that the sun’s energy consists of photons of light—
packets of energy—corresponding to different wavelengths.
• This light could be absorbed, reflected back, or pass through the PV
material
• If it is absorbed by the material, it transfers its energy to electrons
that leave the valence band and move in the external circuit to build a
voltage across the P-N junction. This effect is called the PV:
development of voltage by light.
• The photovoltaic effect is a process that generates voltage or electric
current in a photovoltaic cell when it is exposed to sunlight. It is this
effect that makes solar panels useful, as it is how the cells within the
panel convert sunlight to electrical energy. The photovoltaic effect
was first discovered in 1839 by Edmond Becquerel. When doing
experiments involving wet cells, he noted that the voltage of the cell
increased when its silver plates were exposed to the sunlight
Modeling of PV cell
• All the solar cells can be modeled by a current source, diode, and two
different resistances representing the different parameters of the
solar cell.
• When the solar radiation falls on the PV cell, electrons gain the sun’s
energy and are knocked off the valence band to the conduction band
leaving behind the holes, so both move in the opposite direction,
which can be represented by a current source.
• The movement of electrons generated by the solar irradiance is
represented by a current source
Valence band and conduction band
• Valence and Conduction band are the two different energy levels
separated by a certain amount of energy. The main difference
between the valence band and conduction band is that valence band
specifies the energy level of electrons present in the valence shell of
an atomic structure. As against a conduction band holds those
electrons that are responsible for conduction
Photocurrent
• Photocurrent, also known as the short-circuit current, is the current
generated by the sun’s irradiance falling on the PV cell.
• The valence electrons absorb the photons having energy equivalent to
their bandgap energy and are knocked out of the valence band and
move in the conduction band. This movement of electrons in the
conduction band is represented by a current source and is termed as
Iph
Forward-biased diode
• If the PV cell is not connected to the external load then there exists an
open circuit voltage that allows a full current to flow effectively
through a P-N junction acting as a forward-biased diode. But when a
load is connected, though the voltage is dropped still there is a
voltage that causes the flow of current through the forward-biased
diode. This action of the solar cell is modeled by a diode in parallel to
the current source Iph as shown in Fig. 4.6.
Series resistance
• During the current flow from the generating source to the load, there
are various types of resistance in its path, like the resistance between
the top and rear metal contacts, silicon, and the metal contacts, and
the resistance of the emitter to the base path
Shunt resistance
• The energy in the photons of the solar irradiance is of a different
level.
• If the energy of the photons matches the bandgap energy of the solar
cell material, it knocks them off the holes from the valence band to
the conduction band, generating a photocurrent.
• If the energy of the photons is barely equal to the bandgap energy of
the cell material, it knocks the electron off from the valence band.
But, before they cross the valence band to reach the conduction
band, their energy is lost and they come back to the valence band.
• Electrons-holes recombination occurs causing the reduction in the
originally generated current Iph and this effect is termed as the shunt
resistance in the equivalent diagram of the solar cell
Open-circuit voltage
• Open-circuit voltage is the voltage across the solar cell when there is
no current, meaning that the load is not connected
• Any change in the open-circuit voltage indicates a variation in the
solar irradiance
(4.1)
• where IPh is photonic current, ID is current through parallel diode D, Ish
is current through the shunt resistance Rsh, and I is the current
through the series resistance Rs
Diode current
• The value of the diode current is determined by the Shockley diode
equation given by Eq. (4.2).

• where I0 is saturation current, Vsh is the voltage across the shunt resistance,
q is charge on an electron 1.6X10-19C
• T is cell temperature (K),
• n is ideality factor of solar materials
• K is the Boltzmann’s constant (1.381X10-23 J/K)
• Current through the shunt resistor is calculated by Eq. (4.3).

• Putting the values of ID and Ish in Eq. (4.1), we get Eq. (4.4).
Case 1: no load
• At no load when the circuit is open, there is no current through the
load, that is, I=0. and V=Voc

• VT is the thermal voltage (KT/q)

• The last term (Voc/Rsh) can be neglected as the Rsh is much larger than
the Voc
• Eq. (4.6) shows that the open-circuit voltage largely depends upon the
photonic current generated by solar irradiance, the ideality factor of
the solar cell semiconductor material, and the temperature of the cell
Short-circuit current
• The current through the solar cell is known as the short-circuit current
when it is short-circuited and there is zero voltage drop across the
solar cell.
• The short-circuit current is considered to be the light-generated
current and it is the maximum current that can be drawn from a solar
cell.
• In a practical solar cell, the short-circuit current is always less than
the light-generated current because of the internal resistance of the
solar cell
• The short-circuit current is determined by Eq. (4.4), as shown below.
The efficiency of a solar cell
• The efficiency of the solar is defined as the ratio of the output energy
that is being supplied by the solar cell to the energy available in the
solar irradiance that is falling on the solar cell.

• By using the fill factor equation, Pmax can be found as shown in the
Eq. (4.8).
Fill factor
• The fill factor of a solar cell can be defined by Fig. 4.7. The area under
the bigger rectangle indicates the maximum power that would be
available from an ideal solar cell, whereas the area under the smaller
rectangle represents the maximum power that a solar cell can deliver
• Hence the fill factor is defined as the ratio of the maximum power
that a solar cell can deliver to the maximum power that would be
available from an ideal solar cell, as shown in Fig. 4.7. The fill factor is
determined by Eq. (4.9).
Example 4.1
• A 100 cm2 silicon solar cell operating at standard test conditions (STC)
is giving 2.5 A short-circuit current. From the data sheet it was
observed that the maximum voltage and maximum current were 0.6
V and 2.1 A. Find
1. The open-circuit voltage of the solar cell.
2. The fill factor of the solar cell.
3. The efficiency of the solar cell.
4. The maximum power point (MPP).