Estimation of irradiance and temperature of solar photovoltaic system operating at maximum power point

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a novel method for estimating irradiance and temperature simultaneously for a photovoltaic (PV) system operating at maximum power point (MPP), utilising only datasheet information. This is the first estimation approach that properly estimates the irradiance and temperature of PV systems running at MPP with low irradiance levels, hence demonstrating its applicability over the entire irradiance range. The uniqueness of the equations lies in their firm theoretical foundation, which is demonstrated by their excellent agreement with the PV single-diode model (SDM). Extraction and translation of PV system parameters is carried out using the recently introduced Lambert-W function in PV modelling. In the context of rapidly changing irradiance and temperature situations, the proposed method is compared to current techniques available in the literature, and the results show that the proposed estimation method outperforms the state of the art.

KEYWORDS:

• Photovoltaic (PV)
• irradiance estimation
• temperature estimation
• maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
• single-diode model (SDM)
• Lambert-W function

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).