Effects of inhomogeneous irradiation distribution on a PV array in an urban environment

Author

Kovach, Anne

Author_Institution

Syst. Simulation Group, Fraunhofer-Inst. fur Solare Energiesysteme, Freiburg, Germany

Volume

1

fYear

1994

fDate

5-9 Dec 1994

Firstpage

994

Abstract

The effect of inhomogeneous irradiation on building-integrated photovoltaic arrays is studied with the help of the simulation program, PVPACK, developed in this work. Particular attention is paid to the effect of partial shading and reflection on photovoltaic (PV) arrays from the surrounding environment. By incorporating the raytracing program, RADIANCE, the irradiation distribution on the building surface can be calculated with a high resolution. Simulation results show that a poorly planned lay-out design of a PV array on a building can lead to large energy losses. Such a simulation tool is a helpful aid for successful incorporation of PV in the building sector

Keywords

digital simulation; power engineering computing; ray tracing; simulation; solar cell arrays; solar cells; sunlight; PV array; PVPACK simulation program; RADIANCE raytracing program; building surface; building-integrated photovoltaic arrays; energy losses; inhomogeneous irradiation distribution; partial shading; poorly planned lay-out design; urban environment; Buildings; Energy loss; Energy resolution; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Reflection; Solar energy; Solar power generation; Telephone poles; Urban areas;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 1994., Conference Record of the Twenty Fourth. IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1994, 1994 IEEE First World Conference on

Conference_Location

Waikoloa, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1460-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WCPEC.1994.520128

Filename

520128