2016 International Conference on Control, Computing, Communication and Materials (ICCCCM)

Modeling of solar photovoltaic module and study

parameter variation effect using MATLAB / Simulink
Anurag Rai, Bhoomika Awasthi, Atishay Dixit, C. K. Dwivedi
Department of Electronics & Communication, University of Allahabad
Allahabad, India.

Abstract— Solar Photovoltaic cell is the smallest unit of solar fabricated on layer of semiconductor. When solar cell is
photovoltaic power system, it converts light energy in to electrical exposed to light the electrical energy is produced by
energy. The phenomenon of this conversion of light energy into photoelectric effect. The voltage produced by a PV cell may
electrical energy is termed as Photovoltaic effect. The aim of this vary from 0.6V to 0.8V depending on semiconductor material
study is to develop a model for photovoltaic module based on and technology used [6]. Solar cells are connected in series for
mathematical expression. The conventional single diode model higher voltage output and parallel for higher output current.
for solar cell with series and shunt resistance is used for
illustration. The effect of change in environmental condition like II. MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF PV MODULE
irradiance and temperature on output of photovoltaic module is
shown, the effect of physical parameter variation such as shunt For the last few years, the research interest is increasing in
and series resistance is also consider. The characteristic of the field of PV power system modeling and simulation of
proposed model is compared with the reference photovoltaic standalone and grid tide system. The technique of simulation
module. The 250 watt photovoltaic module manufactured by Tata has proved very helpful for analysis of large system [7].
solar power is used as reference. The large solar array system can
be modeled and simulate using this model. Simulation was This paper includes the modeling of PV module as well as
performed at any and all step using MATLAB/ Simulink PV array. The modeling is based on mathematical expression
software. which was found from equivalent circuit of solar cell. The
effect of parameter variation on output of PV module is also
Keywords—modeling; photovoltaic module; PV characteristic; considered.
Matlab/ simulink;
The PV cell has nonlinear voltage – current characteristic,
I. INTRODUCTION it can be modeled with the help of a current source, diode and
resistances [8]. The conventional single diode model of PV
Today there is a growing concern regarding demand of cell was used in this paper. Fig. 2 shows an ideal electrical
energy. The demand of energy is increasing with increase in equivalent circuit of Solar PV cell with (R SH =∞, RS =0). The
population. The fossil fuels are limited in supply and cause practical model is shown with series resistance R s and shunt
environmental hazards such as global warming. On the other resistance Rsh in Fig. 3 [6]. The modeling and simulation was
hand renewable energy is present in large quantities and it is performed using Matlab/ Simulink software. The Matlab is
environment friendly so it can be good alternative of fossil widely used and easily available authentic software [9-11].
fuels [1].
TABLE I
In present time many renewable sources are available such
as wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy etc. but solar Specification of TP250 PV module at STC [12]
energy is most popular among them. The solar energy is
widely used because it is abundantly available almost Electrical parameter TP250 PV module
everywhere and availability of technology i.e. solar Nominal power output 250 W
photovoltaic (PV) cells which directly converts sunlight in to Voltage at Pmax VMPP (V) 30.2 V
electrical energy [2-4]. The high installation cost of PV
Current at PMax IMPP (I) 8.30 A
module is major drawback with the use of solar energy but
technological developments have helped in reducing the costs. Open circuit voltage VOC (V) 37.30 V
Short circuit current ISC (I) 8.71 A
The PV module is a series / parallel combination of solar
cells. In general solar cells are connected in series to get No. of series connected cells (C) 60
required output voltage. The output power of cell/ module No. of series connected Module 1
fluctuates with time due to variation in sun irradiance and cell (NS)
temperature. Several other factors are also responsible for No. of parallel connected Module 1
variation in output but these two (irradiance and temperature) (NP)
are major cause [5].
The energy produced by solar cell is proportional to The developed model of (250 Watt) PV module based on
intensity of sunlight. Solar cell is basically a PN junction single diode model as shown in Fig.3. The simulation result
was compared with characteristic of TP250 (250Watt) solar

978-1-4673-9084-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA. Downloaded on March 10,2021 at 02:40:54 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2016 International Conference on Control, Computing, Communication and Materials (ICCCCM)

The output current mainly depends on photocurrent Iph,

Photocurrent increases with sun irradiance. The expression for
output current (I) of solar cell from equivalent circuit in can be
written as
(1)

Here, is Output current or load current of PV cell/

Module, is Photocurrent generated by solar cell, is
Diode forward current, is the shunt current flowing through
resistance . The simulation model of output current is
shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 1. Characteristic curve of TP250 at different irradiance and

temperature[12]
Fig. 4. Simulation model subsystem of output current

A. Determination of Diode forward current

Diode current can be determine by Shockley diode

current equation

* ( ⁄ ) + (2)

Here, is diode reverse saturation current, is applied

Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of an Ideal Solar cell forward voltage on diode, is Ideality factor, is thermal
voltage.
⁄ at 25

, is Boltzmann constant, is
temperature of PV cell, , is charge on an
electron.

, from fig. 1(b)

* ( ) + (3)

is number of module connected in parallel, is no. of

module connected in series, is no. of cells in a module. Fig.
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of solar cell with and 5 shows simulation model of diode current.
PV module manufactured by TATA Power Solar. The B. Determination of reverse saturation current
available information from datasheet of TP250 PV module
was used in simulation model. The electrical specification and is diode reverse saturation current, it is temperature
characteristic curve for various values of irradiance and dependent current. The saturation current is cubic function of
temperature of TP250 PV module is shown in table I and Fig.1 temperature, it can be expressed as in (4).
respectively.The solar PV cell may consider as current source.
The outputs current (I) can be determine from Fig. 3, as given ( ) [( )( ) ] (4)
in (1). The output current depends on three different currents
(IPh, ID, ISh) and these currents are proportional to irradiance,
temperature and resistances.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA. Downloaded on March 10,2021 at 02:40:54 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2016 International Conference on Control, Computing, Communication and Materials (ICCCCM)

C. Determination of photocurrent

At standard test condition the output current will be

( ( ) )

Consider the short circuit condition (R=0, I= , V= 0)

to establish the relation between photocurrent ( ) and short
circuit current( ).

= ( ( ) )

Fig. 5. Simulation model subsystem for diode current

= (6)
is diode reverse saturation current at STC, is
Above relation is true under ideal conditions but in
operating temperature (cell temp.) in , is standard practice photocurrent is dependent on irradiance and
temperature (25 ) in , is band gap energy its depends temperature. The modified relationship written as in (7). The
upon the used material. Fig. 6 represents simulation model of simulation subsystem is shown in Fig. 7.
reverse saturation current.
= [ ( )] (7)
To determine the value of , consider ideal solar PV
cell model as in Fig. 1, the expression for output current at
standard test condition (STC) is is actual Irradiance, is irradiance at STC (1000 W/
m2), is short circuit current provided by manufacturer,
( ( ) ) is temperature coefficient of the short circuit current.

Here, is photocurrent at STC.

Under open circuit condition (R=∞, I= 0, V= Voc,ref) the

above equation simplifies to

( ( ) )

The term (-1) is neglected being very small in comparison

to exponential term.

( );

Fig. 7. Simulation model for photocurrent

⁄ ( ) (5)

Fig. 6. Simulation model for reverse saturation current Fig. 8. Simulation model for shunt current

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA. Downloaded on March 10,2021 at 02:40:54 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2016 International Conference on Control, Computing, Communication and Materials (ICCCCM)

Fig. 11. P-V Characteristic of PV module at different irradiance

A. Effect of Solar Irradiance Variation

The photocurrent varies with irradiance, the simulation

was performed or different values of irradiance (1000, 800,
600, 400 W/m2) at STC (Standard test condition). Fig. 10 and
Fig. 9. Simulation model for solar PV Module 11 shows I-V and P-V curve after simulation at different
irradiance. The percentage change in short circuit current (Isc)
D. Determination of Shunt current is much more than the percentage change in Open circuit
Ish is shunt current for PV module is expressed as in (8). voltage (Voc). The current changes from 8.3A to 3.5A and
The simulation model for shunt current was shown in Fig. 8. voltage from 37.3V to 35 V. The output power is higher for
The complete simulation model of solar PV module is shown high irradiance value.
in Fig.9. B. Effect of Temperature Variation
⁄
(8) The simulation was performed for different values of
temperature (5, , , C t STC Fig n shows I-
V and P-V graph of simulation result for different cell
temperature. The current Isc increases in very small amount
III. EFFECT OF PARAMETER VARIATION but decrement in open circuit voltage VOC is considerable with
increase in temperature, hence output power decreases with
This study includes the analysis of environmental increases in temperature. Low temperature is recommended
(irradiance and temperature) and physical (Rs, Rsh) parameter for better results.
variation effect on output of solar PV module.

Fig. 12. I-V Characteristic of PV module at different temperature

Fig. 10. I-V Characteristic of PV module at different irradiance

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA. Downloaded on March 10,2021 at 02:40:54 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2016 International Conference on Control, Computing, Communication and Materials (ICCCCM)

Fig. 13. P -V Characteristic of PV module at different temperature

Fig. 16. . I-V Characteristic of PV module for different RSH

C. Effect of Variation In Series Resistance

Simulation was performed for different value of series

resistance Rs (0, 0.1, 0.5, 1 Ohm) at STC. The current Isc and
Voltage Voc are unchanged but the maximum power point
shifts, maximum power decreases with increase in series
resistance value. Thus series resistance of solar PV cell should
be very low. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 14 and
15.

Fig. 17. P -V Characteristic of PV module for different RSH

D. Effect of Variation In Shunt Resistance

Simulation was performed for different value of shunt

Fig. 14. I-V Characteristic of PV module for different RS
resistance Rsh (20, 50, 100, 500 Ohm) at STC. The current Isc
and Voltage Voc are unchanged but the maximum power point
shifts, maximum power decreases for lower values of shunt
resistance. Thus the value of shunt resistance of solar PV cell
must be high. Fig. 16 and 17 shows the simulation results at
different shut resistance.
IV. CONCLUSION

The paper explains the modeling of solar PV cell based on

mathematical expression comes from electrical equivalent
circuit. The single diode model is used for modeling. The step
by step simulation is performed using blocks present in
library. All simulation work is done in Matlab/ Simulink
environment. The 250 Watt solar PV module is simulated at
STC and for varying environmental condition and simulation
result is verified by reference PV module. The simulation
results validate the proposed model. The developed model is
Fig. 15. P-V Characteristic of PV module for different RS
also used for modeling of large PV power system.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA. Downloaded on March 10,2021 at 02:40:54 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
2016 International Conference on Control, Computing, Communication and Materials (ICCCCM)

REFERENCES [6] M E Ropp n S Gonz lez, “Development of a

MATLAB/Simulink model of a single-phase grid-connected
[1] G W lker, “Ev lu ting MPPT converter topologies using photovolt ic system,” IEEE Tr ns Energy Convers , vol , no
Matlab PV mo el”, Journ l of Electric l & Electronics 1, pp. 195–202, Mar. 2009.
Engineering, Australia, Vol.21, No. 1. (2001), pp. 49-56. [7] H P tel n V Ag rw l, “MATLAB-based modeling to study
[2] I. H. Altas and A.M. Sharif, "A Photovoltaic Array Simulation the effects of partial shading on PV array characteristics,” IEEE
Model for Matlab-Simulink GUI Environment," IEEE, Clean Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 302–310, Mar. 2008.
Electrical Power, International Conference on Clean Electrical [8] K Ish que, Z S l m, n H T heri, “Simple, f st n ccur te
Power (lCCEP '07), June 14-16, 2007, Ischia, Italy. two- io e mo el for photovolt ic mo ules,” Sol r Energy
[3] S. Nema, R.K.Nema, and G.Agnihotri, "Mat lab I simulink Mater. Solar Cells, vol. 95, no. 2, pp. 586–594, Feb. 2011.
based study of photovoltaic cells I modules I array and their [9] Y Ji ng, J A A Q houq, n I B t rseh, “Improve sol r PV
experimental verification," International Journal of Energy and cell MATLAB simul tion mo el n comp rison,” in Proc
Environment, pp.487- 500, Volume 1, Issue 3, 2010. IEEE Int. Symp. Circuits Syst., May/Jun. 2010, pp. 2770–2773.
[4] Tarak Salmi, Mounir Bouzguenda, Adel Gastli, Ahmed [10] E M t gne, R Chenni, n R El B chtiri, “A photovolt ic cell
Masmoudi, " MATLAB/SIMULINK based modeling of solar model b se on nomin l t only,” in Proc Int Conf Power
photovoltaic cell", International Journal of Renewable Energy Eng., Energy Electr. Drives, 2007, pp. 562–565.
Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2012. [11] W Kim n W Choi, “A novel p r meter extr ction metho for
[5] Huan-Li ng Ts i, “Development of Gener lize Photovolt ic the one io e sol r cell mo el,” Sol r Energy, vol 8 , no , pp
Mo el Using MATLAB/SIMULINK” Procee ings of the 1008–1019, Jun. 2010.
World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2008. [12] Tata solar photovoltaic module TP250 datasheet
WCECS 2008, October 22 - 24, 2008, San Francisco, USA.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA. Downloaded on March 10,2021 at 02:40:54 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.