Experimental characterization for a PV module using low cost method

The fabrication and characterization of PV modules are always done under standard test conditions (STC). However, the condition of operation are often far from this standard conditions. As a result, developing a characterization circuit is considered as a point of interest for researchers. This paper presents a new methodology in characterizing a PV module using an electronic load circuit. The circuit is implemented using a power MOSFET driven by a pulse width modulator (PWM) developed by LABVIEW. The system is tested and its results are validated by comparing it with simulation results performed by Comsol Multiphysics and Matlab. The system shows high accuracy with respect to the previous published work with lower cost and higher simplicity.