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Chapter 2

Fundamentals of Photovoltaic Cells and Systems

Ignacio Rey-Stolle
Instituto de Energı́a Solar, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
(Solar Energy Institute, Technical University of Madrid)
ETSI de Telecomunicación, Avda. Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

The present chapter summarizes the current state and perspectives of pho-
tovoltaic solar energy. The fundamentals of solar radiation and photovoltaic
(solar) cells are covered; the basic technology of photovoltaic modules and sys-
tems is briefly discussed; and a general outlook is provided for the uses, market
and environmental impact of photovoltaic solar energy.

1 Introduction
The Earth receives annually around 1.5 · 1018 kWh of solar energy, which
is by far the most abundant energy resource available for mankind so far.
If adequately harnessed, only a minuscule fraction of this energy (∼0.01%)
would suffice to supply the world’s primary energy demand, which in 2012
was about 1.55 · 1014 kWh.1 The primary energy is processed by the ener-
getic system into different types of readily usable energy, among which
electricity is considered the key technology for the next decades. Accord-
ingly, the direct generation of electricity — the preferred consumable form
of energy — from solar radiation — the richest resource — is a topic of
the highest relevance and is the essence of Photovoltaics (PV). From the
discovery of the PV effect in 1839 by French physicist Alexandre-Edmond
Becquerel to the first successful application of PV panels to power the Van-
guard I satellite launched in 1958 more than a century went by.2 Since
those pioneering works, many steps forward have been made and the PV
industry has evolved from the Watt-ranged applications of the early days
to the GW systems planned today. In the first one and a half decades of the
21st century, with more than 140 GW installed worldwide, PV technology

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32 I. Rey-Stolle

has demonstrated the maturity to become a major source of power for the
world. That robust and continuous growth is expected to continue in the
decades ahead in order to turn PV into one of the key players in the pool
of technologies involved in generating electricity for the 21st century.

2 Solar Radiation
2.1 Fundamentals
Solar radiation is a general term that refers to the electromagnetic energy
flux emitted by the sun’s surface (i.e. the photosphere). This emission of
electromagnetic waves does not take place at a single wavelength but spans
a continuum of different wavelengths from X-rays to deep infrared photons.
Accordingly, the solar spectrum is the distribution of the electromagnetic
power emitted by the sun (per unit wavelength and unit area) as a function
of wavelength. The solar spectrum reaching the earth outside the atmo-
sphere may be well approximated by that of a blackbody at 5778 K,3 as
shown in Fig. 1.
The integral of the solar spectrum in Fig. 1 yields the solar power per
unit area reaching the outer surface of Earth’s atmosphere. This magnitude
is known as the solar constant (B0 ) and its most accepted average value is
1367 W/m2 . Throughout the year (and from year to year) the solar constant
varies slightly (∼7%) as a result of the change in the sun–earth distance

2.5
Spectral Irradiance [W·m−2·nm−1]

Extraterrestrial solar radiation

2
5778K Blackbody radiation

1.5

0.5

0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Wavelength [nm]

Fig. 1. Extraterrestrial solar spectrum compared to the spectrum emitted by a black-

body at 5778 K.
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Fundamentals of Photovoltaic Cells and Systems 33

along the Earth’s orbit and variations in the sun’s activity (solar cycles).
The actual value of B0 can be simply calculated just by multiplying the solar
constant by a correction factor (ε0 ) taking into account the eccentricity of
the Earth’s orbit as a function of the ordinal day in the year (dn ; for 1st
January dn = 1; while for 31st December dn = 365):

ε0 = 1 + 0.033 · cos(2π · dn /365). (1)

2.2 Basic PV Terminology and Notation

for Solar Radiation
The irradiance at a given surface is the total energy per unit area per
second (i.e. power per unit area) reaching that surface in the form of solar
radiation. Units used for irradiance are W/m2 and is typically noted using
the letter G. Of particular interest — due to the wealth of experimental
data available — is the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI ) which is
the amount of irradiance falling on a surface horizontal to the surface of
the Earth.
The irradiation at a given location is the total energy per unit area
reaching that location in the form of solar radiation in a certain period.
Typical units used for irradiation are Wh/m2 or J/m2 and is noted using
the symbol Gp , where the subscript p denotes the period over which the
irradiation is calculated as


Gp = G · dt. (2)
p

Typical periods for calculating irradiation are hours (Gh ), days (Gd ) or
months (Gm ). It is also common to use averages of daily or hourly irradia-
tion taken over different periods. In this case no uniform notation is found
in the literature but in general subscripts are added to indicate the period
for averaging (Gdm = average daily irradiation taken over a month).

2.3 Components of the Solar Radiation

When the sun’s radiation traverses the atmosphere it is partially reflected
by the clouds, partially absorbed and partially scattered by particles and
gases. Thereby the radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is largely attenu-
ated, filtered, and randomized in terms of direction. Accordingly, the irra-
diance reaching a surface on Earth may be expressed in terms of three main
components, namely, beam or direct irradiance (B), diffuse irradiance (D)
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34 I. Rey-Stolle

and albedo or reflected irradiance (R):

G = B + D + R. (3)

The beam component refers to the irradiance coming directly from the
solar disc; whilst the diffuse component refers to the irradiance coming
from the rest of the sky. The albedo or reflected component accounts for
radiation that reaches the target surface after reflection from the ground,
buildings, snowy hills or any other reflecting surface. Figure 2(a) visually
depicts these three components.
Three variants of these components are especially relevant in PV as
a result of the wealth of experimental data coming from meteorological
databases. The Direct Normal Irradiance or DNI refers to the beam
irradiance impinging on a surface perpendicular to the rays (i.e. a surface
tracking the sun). The Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance or DHI represents
the diffuse irradiance reaching a horizontal surface. Analogously, the GHI
represents the amount of global radiation reaching a horizontal surface. A
common way to calculate GHI is as the sum of the DHI and the fraction
of DNI impinging on a horizontal surface:

GHI = DHI + DNI · cos(θZS ), (4)

where θZS is the solar zenith angle, which is a function of latitude, hour
of the day, and day of the year. Figure 2(b) illustrates the concept of solar
zenith angle.
On clear days, when attenuation is the main effect of the atmosphere,
the global irradiance on a horizontal plane on the Earth surface (i.e. GHI )
can be approximated with a very simple empirical expression:
GHI = B0 · ε0 · 0.74AM ×0.678 , (5)

where B0 and ε0 are the solar constant and eccentricity factor as defined
in Sec. 2.1; whilst AM is the air mass, which is defined as the ratio
of the length of the beam irradiance path through the atmosphere to the
vertical length of the atmosphere. Accordingly, in PV terminology AM0
refers to the extraterrestrial irradiance; AM1.5 to an irradiance traversing
an atmosphere length 1.5 times its vertical length, and analogous definitions
can be given for other AM values. AM varies through the day and season (as
apparent sun movement does) and depends on location (latitude). Simple
geometrical considerations lead to3 :

AM = 1/ cos θZS , (6)

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Fundamentals of Photovoltaic Cells and Systems 35

Fig. 2. (a) Components of irradiance; (b) Optical paths corresponding to different AM

attenuations.

where θZS is the solar zenith angle, which is itself a function of latitude,
hour of the day, and day of the year. Figure 2(b) illustrates the concept
of AM.
Following Eq. (3), irradiation can also be expressed in terms of the
different components of irradiance integrated over a period (p) of time:



Gp = Bp + Dp = B · dt + D · dt, (7)
p p

where the albedo component has been neglected since it is site-dependent

and thus it is typically measured.

2.4 World Distribution of Solar Radiation

Among energy resources, solar radiation is the one more evenly distributed
on a world scale. Virtually any location with latitude below 55◦ , is suitable
for installing PV systems. Figure 3 visually summarizes the world availabil-
ity of the solar resource.

2.5 Solar Radiation Collected by PV Systems

In PV engineering the key question around solar radiation is how much
irradiance will reach the surface of a PV system installed at a given location,
this is, the so-called in-plane irradiance. Following Eq. (3) to calculate
the in-plane irradiance, it is necessary to model or to measure the beam
and diffuse irradiances (and albedo when applicable) on the target surface
for the desired location during the course of the day and throughout the
seasons in a year.
A starting point for this calculation is the so-called typical meteoro-
logical year (TMY). A TMY is a collection of selected solar irradiation
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36 I. Rey-Stolle

2500 kWh/m2

2000

1500

1000

500
Yearly global irradiation on a horizontal surface: Gy(0)

Fig. 3. Yearly global irradiation [kWh/m2 ] on a horizontal surface.

data for a year and for a specific location, generated from a database much
longer than a year in duration. There is no standard establishing what a
TMY should contain but typically it includes hourly values of GHI, DNI,
wind speed and ambient temperature, among other meteorological vari-
ables. The TMY is not constructed by just simply averaging hourly values
in the database but by the concatenation of actual representative months.
In other words, the data for the month in the database that has the average
radiation most closely equal to the monthly average over the whole mea-
surement period is chosen as the TMY data for that month. The TMY is
then constructed by applying this method to all months.
Once the horizontal irradiance values are known for the location of
interest, many approaches exist for calculating the in-plane irradiance in PV
systems3–5 that provide the average irradiance and irradiation of arbitrarily
oriented surfaces for diverse periods of time (hours, days, months, year).
Another approach, which is seeing increasing use in PV engineering,
is to obtain these values from reference databases which integrate complex
solar radiation models with extensive data from ground stations or satel-
lites. Examples of these databases are PVGIS6 for Europe and Africa; and
the NREL US dynamic solar atlas.7

3 Solar Cells
3.1 Definition
A solar cell or PV cell is a device that directly transforms solar radi-
ation into electrical energy by means of the PV effect without any ther-
mal cycles, mechanical cycles or chemical reactions.8–10 Classical ways for