Network approach to modeling and simulation of solar photovoltaic cell

The cost and performance of PV plants goes with the module under consideration. However the electrical parameters of the modules vary from those provided by the manufacturer with the ageing of the module. Therefore, the behavior of the mathematical model of a PV module cannot match the real operating conditions. There are papers having proposed an improved model of a PV module that makes use only parameters provided by manufacturer's datasheets without requiring the use of any numerical methods. This paper aims to interpret by using one of the available models represented as Norton's equivalent circuit which is a simple and approximate model. Norton's circuit model representing the module helps knowing the behavior of solar module. The study and performance of this model is compared with that of the existing model using Matlab and the results are matching to the greater extent. The results obtained for both the models are validated by conducting series of experiments on a physical module. Thus, the work signifies yet another model for a PV module to evaluate the performance parameters