Long-term monitoring of photovoltaic modules in South Africa

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of photovoltaic modules subjected to outdoor operating conditions at the University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. In the study, module output parameters, module temperature, and meteorological data including irradiance, ambient temperature and wind speed were monitored. This monitoring enables the investigation of the effect of the environmental conditions on the energy output of the modules as well as degradation effects. In this paper, these effects are discussed and an analysis of the modules´ energy output presented. An assessment procedure used to evaluate the performance parameters and used to analyse the degradation of specific parameters of photovoltaic modules is also presented, together with some initial results