Performance evaluation of amorphous silicon photovoltaic module using solar light of different wavelengths

Abstract

The performance of amorphous silicon photovoltaic module was evaluated using solar light of different wavelengths in this study. The different wavelengths of solar light were filtered by use of colour filters. During data collection, the plane of the module was oriented perpendicular to the sun, in order to ensure that module gets the maximum irradiation. The I-V tracer was employed to obtain the module I-V curves, P-V curves and subsequently the I-V outputs of the module. The short circuit current and power output of the module varied at different wavelengths of solar light, but the module’s open circuit voltage was almost constant at different wavelengths. The highest short circuit current of 0.76 A, maximal power of 9.60 W and efficiency of 3.60 % were obtained when the module was not covered with any colour filter. Among all the used colour filters, the yellow colour of solar light gave the highest short circuit current of 0.68 A, maximal power of 8.89 W and efficiency of 3.29 %. This suggests that the yellow light is highly efficient in the amorphous silicon photovoltaic module power generation compared to the other colours of the visible light. The impact of module temperature on the module’s open circuit voltage and short circuit current for different wavelengths of solar light were also investigated. The results showed that the rise in module temperature led to the fall in the open circuit voltage and small increment in short circuit current of the module regardless the wavelength of solar light. Due to the outcomes of this research, it was recommended that more research is needed to be done by filtering solar light into single wavelengths rather than the band of wavelengths. The colors of visible light which were not considered in this study, have to be considered for future work. Manufacturers may use the findings of this study to modify the technological design of the module so as efficiently capture the wavelengths of solar light within the yellow portion of the visible spectrum.