Estimation of Power Losses in Photovoltaic Array Configurations under Moving Cloud Conditions

This paper analyses the various losses due to partial shading on different photovoltaic array configurations under moving non-uniform illumination conditions (passing cloud). Each solar array is composed of modules which are interconnected in series and parallel. Bypass diodes are also modelled to avoid hotspot conditions in a photovoltaic module. The developed model is able to simulate and compute the electrical characteristics of the different array configurations under changing illumination conditions. The array configurations have been compared on the basis of various partial shading losses and fill factor.