An in-hand model of photovoltaic modules and/or strings for numerical simulation of renewable-energy electric power systems

Nowadays renewable energy sources have received an increasing attention thanks to the growing social sensitivity to the environment problems and Kyoto protocol effects. Solar radiation is considered one of the most accessible energy resources even if photo-voltaic (PV) conversion is characterized by low conversion efficiency. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop model of a PV module in order to evaluate the efficiency of a solar plants and to predict its behavior in whatever working condition. It is important to highlight that the use of a PV model in a monitoring system allows to compare the actual and expected performance to prevent any decrease of performances and to improve system dependability. In this paper an in-hand model of PV modules will be presented and discussed.