A metaheuristic-based method for photovoltaic temperature computation under tropical conditions

• Published in: Solar energy Vol. 271; no. 2024; p. 112414
• Main Authors: Osorio, Liomnis, Moreno, Mailyn, Rivera, Marco, Tuninetti, Víctor, Chavarria, Gerardo Ruíz, Duchêne, Laurent, Wheeler, Patrick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.03.2024
• Subjects: Energie; Energy; Engineering, computing & technology; General Materials Science; Ingénierie, informatique & technologie; Local search algorithm; Mean absolute error; Metaheuristic; Module temperature; NOCT model; Photo-voltaic efficiency; Photovoltaic efficiency; Photovoltaic module temperature; Photovoltaic modules; Photovoltaics; Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment; Restart local search algorithm; Photovoltaic module temperature; Photovoltaic efficiency; Restart local search algorithm; NOCT model
• ISSN: 0038-092X; 1471-1257; 1471-1257
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2024.112414

Tropical climates have favorable irradiation levels for the development of photovoltaic systems; however, high temperatures have a negative impact on the efficiency of solar cells. Since direct measurement of cell temperature is not common, mathematical models are needed to make predictions. Numerous models have been documented, highlighting the challenge of applying a universal model to different climatic conditions. The main contribution of this study is the proposal of a metaheuristic algorithm to accurately compute the temperature of solar cells. This method is simple and effective in exploring numerous potential states of the reference parameters (i.e., irradiance and ambient temperature). Data collected over a 23-month period in two photovoltaic installations with an output power of 2.2 MW of multicrystalline silicon technology were used to develop the proposed method and validate it. The proposed model was compared with 19 previously reported models in the literature. Compared to the model recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC Standard 61215-1), the mean square error, mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error were reduced by 4.9, 4.8, and 2.4 times, respectively. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by MAE errors ranging from 0.56 °C to 1.88 °C, obtained by considering three different daily profiles of irradiance and ambient temperature. Therefore, the proposed method is recommended to more accurately calculate the temperature of the photovoltaic cell in tropical areas. •Photovoltaic (PV) cells under tropical climate conditions.•Local search-based method with restart accurately predicts cell temperature.•Tropical climate conditions affect efficiency and production energy of PV cells.•Multicrystalline silicon technology is assessed.