A novel method to extract the series resistances of individual cells in a photovoltaic module

•Extraction of the series resistances of individual cells in a PV module is presented.•A partially shaded cell quantifies the series resistance of unshaded cells.•Each cell is shaded and quantified at two different shading ratios.•The series resistance of a cell can be extracted by using those of unshaded cells.•Two separate test results of a PV module validated the theoretical analysis.

Non-disruptive cell-level characterization of a photovoltaic module is presented. Previous works have developed methods to extract the shunt resistances and the short circuit currents of individual cells, but their series resistances have not been characterized yet. In this paper, a novel methodology that quantifies the series resistances of individual cells is developed by using a partial shading technique with two different shading ratios. The simulation and experimental test results are presented for validation.