Performance of heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) PV module in Singapore

Standard Test Conditions(STC) are widely used as PV measurement standard for the PV manufacturers to define the technical characteristics of solar PV modules in their laboratory and for the PV system designers and installers to compare different PV modules under the same testing conditions, e.g. solar irradiance(1000W/m²), cell temperature at 25°C and Air mass(AM) 1.5. However, the actual performance of PV modules in situ is primarily dependent upon the site weather conditions and the way to install the PV system. As a result, the performance of a PV system on site can be quite different from that under the STC. To find out the performance of Sanyo HIT PV modules in the tropical region where the weather conditions are unique and different from STC, a 780W_p grid-tied HIT PV system was installed on the rooftop of a church in Singapore. For comparison, an 875W_p grid-tied monocrystalline(c-Si) PV system was also installed side by side with the HIT system. This paper analyses the performance of two PV systems from April 2008 to March 2009 and presents solar irradiation available on the site, conversion efficiency of the PV system and Performance Ratio(PR) of the system. The PV systems under one year site test have revealed that the PR of HIT PV system ranged between 75% and 80% and the conversion efficiency of HIT PV modules varied between 14.65% and 15.10%.