Simulation and experimental study of shading effect on series and parallel connected photovoltaic PV modules

Partial shading of photovoltaic modules is a widespread phenomenon in all kinds of Photovoltaic (PV) systems. In many cases the PV arrays get shadowed, completely or partially, by the passing clouds, neighboring buildings and towers, trees or the shadow of one solar array on the other, etc. This further leads to nonlinearities in characteristics. In this study, the simulation and experimental results of uniform and partial shading of PV modules are presented. Different shading pattern have been investigated on series and parallel connected photovoltaic module to find a configuration that is comparatively less susceptible to electrical mismatches due shadow problems. Simscape simulation model is employed to model the solar cell taking into account its series and parallel resistance.