Influence of spectral light content on the performance of different thin film solar cells

Author

Guechi, A. ; Merabet, A. ; Chegaar, M.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Opt. & Precision Mech., Ferhat Abbas Univ., Setif, Algeria

Volume

2

fYear

2012

fDate

21-23 May 2012

Firstpage

495

Lastpage

499

Abstract

This work Investigates the feasibility of using a solar spectral radiation model SMARTS2 to estimate the global solar irradiance and assess the influence of spectral light content on the conversion efficiency of the CdTe, CIGS and microcrystalline solar cells due to the shift in spectral composition. The variation of the common performance indicators such as short circuit current, fill factor, open circuit voltage, and efficiency are shown and discussed for each month. The results show that the seasonal variations in the solar spectrum affect the different materials to different extent. For the CdTe, CIGS and microcrystalline cells the maximum efficiency is obtained in the summer months, however the lower efficiency is obtained during winter.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; cadmium compounds; short-circuit currents; solar cells; solar radiation; thin films; CdTe; conversion efficiency; fill factor; global solar irradiance; microcrystalline solar cells; open circuit voltage; short circuit current; solar spectral radiation model SMARTS2; spectral light content; thin film solar cells; Decision support systems; Radio frequency; CIGS; CdTe; Thin film; efficiency; microcrystalline; performance; seasonal; solar cells;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Radar and Wireless Communications (MIKON), 2012 19th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Warsaw

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1435-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MIKON.2012.6233632

Filename

6233632