Performance of Solar Energy Converters

Solar cell and solar cell module have to be tested for their performance, i.e. their ability to produce electrical power under well-defined conditions of illumination and temperature. The need for performance measurements arises at various stages of development, design and production from different requirement: at the development level, the main objective is to as ess the performance of a new concept in comparison with state-of-the-art competitors; at the design level, performance data are required as input for the izing and dimensions of photovoltaic y tem operating under certain environmental conditions; at the produc- tion level, the cells and modules must be acceptance te ted against a set of specifications in order to separate deliverables from reject . For accurate performance measurements and calibration, several methods exist which can be generally categorised into two clas e: outdoor methods in natural sunlight, and indoor method, u ing imulated unlight or indirect analytical method . Depending on the purpose of a performance test, each of these method can offer specific advantage . Therefore, the various methods are not to be looked at as competing, but rather as complementary tool for the achievement of accurate electrical performance measurement .