Abstract
The outdoor measurements (during two months experiment) of photovoltaic silicon and CIGS modules as well as simulation of energy production during the period experiment are presented in this paper. This paper offer comparison of construction and electrical characteristics of multicrystalline silicon based modules and CIGS based modules. The measuring system for PV modules efficiency research is shown. The nominal power of installed modules is 250 W for m-Si and 280 W for CIGS modules. The energy production in outdoor conditions at direct current side and alternating current side of each photovoltaic panel was measured. Each PV panel was also equipped with temperature sensor for screening panel temperature. The photovoltaic panels were connected to the electrical network with micro inverters. To determine the influence of irradiance at sunshine on power conversion efficiency of PV panels, the pyranometer was installed in the plane of the modules. Measurement of the instantaneous power and irradiance gave the information about the efficiency of a particular photovoltaic panels. In the paper all data from research installation were analysed to present the influence of solar cell technology on the power conversion efficiency. The results of energy production show that m-Si module produced more energy from square meter (30.9 kWh/m2) than CIGS module (28.0 kWh/m2). Thin film module shows the higher production per kWp than multicrystalline module: 217.3 kWh/kWp for CIGS and 201.9 kWh/kWp for m-Si. The energy production simulation (made by PV SOL software and outdoor measurements test are in the good agreement. Temperature power coefficient for the CIGS module is twice lower than for the multicrystalline silicon module: 0.56%/°C and 0.35%/°C for m-Si and CIGS modules, respectively. The obtained results revealed strong influence of irradiance and temperature on energy production by PV panels. Performed studies have a large field of potential application and could improve designing process of PV installation.