Intensity dependency of photovoltaic cell parameters under high illumination conditions: An analysis

The dependency on Pin of PV cell parameters of Si solar cells with various structures has been investigated. The analytically-predicted values of Rsh and Rs decreased with increases of Pin. The decrease of Rsh may be due to light induced degradation of the PV cells. The reduction in Rs values may be due to an increase of conductivity of the active region. However, n and J0 increased with increasing Pin. The rate change of all the PV cell parameters was higher at lower Pin values than at the higher Pin values. The theoretically computed values of the open circuit voltage Voc, curve factor CF and efficiency η using this method showed good agreement with the experimentally measured values at various Pin. The performance of PV systems depends on the product of the Jsc, Voc and CF. Thus, it is important to find the optimal value of Pin to get the maximum output power (minimum losses due to Rsh, Rs, n and J0) from a PV system. By doing so, the cost per peak watt of solar energy can be reduced to a minimal value by enhancing the performance of the PV systems.46