Outdoor performance of polycrystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells based on the influence of irradiance and module temperature in Thailand

This study aimed to focus on the outdoor performance ratio (PR) and the relationship between PR, module temperature and irradiance for (a-Si) and polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) located in Thailand. The result of this study revealed that the PR of a-Si increased during the summer and reached the highest value in the rainy season. For a 3-year period investigation, average PR of a-Si showed higher values than the PR values at standard test condition (STC) and also higher than the PR of poly-Si. However, during winter, PR value of a-Si gradually decreased. The lowest PR value occurring in winter was lower than the highest value occurring in rainy season by 7.0%. In addition, during summer and rainy periods from 2006 to 2007, the PR value of a-Si degraded by approximately 0.5% whereas it declined by 2% from 2008 to 2009 in winter. Furthermore, the results also indicated that the PR value of poly-Si decreased when the temperature increased. In addition, both types of solar cell have the same behavior of Voc and Isc based on the influence of intensity and temperature.