Correlating the power conversion of a PV panel to the solar irradiance obtained from Meteonorm

The purpose of this paper is to correlate the power conversion of a photovoltaic (PV) panel to the global solar irradiance obtained from a software package called Meteonorm. Power conversion time is defined as the percentage of time in which a PV panel is converting solar energy into electrical energy and was determined for a nine month period from April through December 2011. Preliminary results, which include regression analysis (R²), conversion-time per week and work-time per day, indicate a favorably comparison between the empirical results and the simulation results.