On the influence of forced convection in PV energy yield models

Abstract

The efficiency of PV cells is greatly affected by their operating temperatures. Depending on the locale, this change in efficiency can be significant. However, most energy yield frameworks only consider cooling by natural convection due to ambient conditions. What many of these frameworks neglect is the effect of forced convection on the temperature of the cells. In this study, PV modules are modeled numerically to quantify the effect of forced convection on the temperature and thus efficiency. The initial results show that for a typical summer day, the reduction in temperature due to forced convection-as opposed to natural convection alone-can exceed 12 degrees C. The module efficiency increases from 15.25% to 16.53%. This 1.3% increase in efficiency is significant, and warrants reconsideration of forced convection in energy yield modeling.