Analysis on solar panel performance and PV-Inverter configuration for tropical region
1Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering,TREC Universitas Indonesia, Depok 16424, Indonesia
J Ther Eng 2017; 3(3): 1259-1270
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Abstract

In this paper, proper inverter topology for tropical region will be determined with temperature effect as a considered factor. PV characteristics on certain temperature are obtained through mathematical equations in MATLAB-Simulink and it will be represented by PV I-V and P-V characteristic curves. Based on the modeling, some PV parameters such as temperature coefficients of short circuit current (ISC), open circuit voltage (VOC), maximum output power (PMAX), and maximum power voltage (VMP) can be determined as high as 0.56%/oC, -0.31%/oC -0.4%/oC, and 0.43 %/oC respectively. As the result, for tropical region, the central inverter is the most proper inverter topology to supply 5 kWAC PV system, string inverter in the 2nd place, and AC module with utility rates of 97.34%, 96.32 %, and 88.1% based on direct measurement on PV panel’s temperature respectively. From NOCT approach, the utility rates are around 92.96 % for central inverter, 91.98% for string inverter and 91.8 % for AC module.