School of Engineering

Division of Electrical Engineering

B.Tech
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

19-209-0804 - SOLAR PV SYSTEMS

Jithin Jose
Assistant Professor
Div. of Electrical Engineering, SOE
Solar Cells

A solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts sunlight energy into electrical
energy directly without going through any intermediate energy conversion steps. It is a
fundamental block of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. Many solar cells are connected
together to form solar PV modules. Several solar PV modules are connected together to
make PV arrays in small power applications as well as in big power plant applications.

What is a Solar Cell?

Solar cell is a semiconductor device which directly converts sunlight into electricity.
Solar cell converts sunlight into electricity by photovoltaic effect. Hence, they are also
called photovoltaic cell.

The solar cell generates current and voltage at its terminals when sunlight falls on it.
The amount of electricity generated by a solar cell depends on the amount of sunlight
incident on it. The electricity generated by solar cell depends upon the intensity
(amount) of light, the area of a cell and the angle at which light falls on it. The higher is
the intensity of sunlight, the more is the electricity generated by solar cell. If area of a
solar cell is increased, the current generated by it increases. The power generated by
the solar cell is optimum when sunlight falling is perpendicular to the front side of solar
cell.
In common, all solar cells, irrespective of the technology and material used have only
two terminals (positive and negative terminals) as output. Typically solar cells have front
contact at the top, emitter-base junction or p-n junction in the middle and the back
contact at the bottom. At the emitter-base junction, the separation of negative and
positive charge takes place.

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How Solar Cell Generates Electricity?

The sunlight falling on the earth is basically the bundles of photons or bundles of small
energy. Each photon in a bundle has a finite amount of energy. In solar spectrum, there
are many photons of different energy. For generation of electricity, photons must be
absorbed by solar cell. The absorption of photon depends upon the energy of photon
and the band-gap energy of semiconductor material of a solar cell. The photon energy
and the band-gap energy of semiconductor is expressed in terms of Electron-volt (eV).
The eV is a unit of energy.
So, the working of a solar cell can be explained as follows:
1. Photons in the sunlight falling on the solar cell’s front face are absorbed by
semiconducting materials.
2. Free electron-hole pairs are generated. Electrons are considered as negative
charge and holes are considered as positive charge. When solar cell is
connected to a load, electron and holes near the junction are separated from
each other. The holes are collected at positive terminal (anode) and electrons at
negative terminal (cathode). Electric potential is built at the terminals due to the
separation of negative and positive charges. Due to the difference between the
electric potentials at the terminals we get voltage across the terminals.
3. Voltage developed at the terminals of a solar cell is used to drive the current in
the circuit. The current in the circuit will be direct current or DC current.

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Parameters of Solar Cells

A solar cell converts the sunlight into electricity. How nicely a solar cell does the
conversion of sunlight into electricity is determined the parameters of solar cells. There
are several parameters of solar cells that determine the effectiveness of sunlight to
electricity conversion. The list of solar cell parameters is following:
● Short circuit current (Isc),
● Open circuit voltage (Voc) and
● Maximum power point
● Current at maximum power point (Im)
● Voltage at maximum power point (Vm)
● Fill factor (FF)
● Efficiency (h),

Normally, the value of the cell parameters are given by a manufacturer or scientist at
standard test conditions (STC) which is corresponding to 1000 W/m2 of input solar
radiation and 25°C cell operating temperature.

Short circuit current (Isc):

It is the maximum current a solar cell can produce. The higher the Isc, better is the cell.
It is measured in Ampere (A) or milli-ampere (mA). The value of this maximum current
depends on cell technology, cell area, amount of solar radiation falling on cell, angle of
cell, etc.

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Open circuit voltage (Voc):
It is the maximum voltage that a solar cell produce. The higher the Voc, the better is the
cell. It is measured in volts (V) or sometimes milli-volts (mV). The value of this maximum
open circuit voltage mainly depends on cell technology and operating temperature.

Maximum power point (Pm or Pmax):

It is the maximum power that a solar cell produces under STC. The higher the Pm, the
better is the cell. It is given in terms of watt (W). Since it is maximum power or peak
power, it is sometimes also referred as Wpeak or Wp. A solar cell can operate at many
current and voltage combinations. But a solar cell will produce maximum power only
when operating at certain current and voltage. This maximum power point is denoted in
Figure as Pm. Normally, the maximum power point for a I-V curve of solar cells occurs at
the ‘knee’ or ‘bend’ of the curve. In terms of expression Pm is given as:
Pm or Pmax = Im Vm

Current at maximum power point (Im):

This is the current which solar cell will produce when operating at maximum power
point. The Im will always be lower than Isc. It is given in terms of ampere (A) or
milli-ampere (mA).

Voltage at maximum power point (Vm):

This is the voltage which solar cell will produce when operating at maximum power
point. The Vm will always be lower than Voc. It is given in terms of volt (V) or milli-volt
(mV).

Fill factor (FF):

As the name suggests, FF is the ratio of the areas covered by Im-Vm rectangle with the
area covered by Isc-Voc rectangle (both shown by dotted line in Figure), whose
equation is given below. It indicates the square-ness of I-V curve. The higher the FF, the
better is the cell. The FF of a cell is given in terms of percentage (%). Cell with squarer
I-V curve is a better cell.

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Here the expression for Pmax or Pm can alternatively be written in terms of Isc, Voc and
FF as:

Efficiency (η):
The efficiency of a solar cell is defined as the maximum output power (Pm or Pmax)
divided by the input power (Pin). The efficiency of a cell is given in terms of percentage
(%), which means that this percentage of radiation input power is converted into
electrical power. Pin for STC is considered as 1000 W/m2. This input power is power
density (power divided by area), therefore, in order to calculate the efficiency using Pin
at STC, we must multiply by solar cell area. Thus, efficiency can be written as:

Solar Cell Technologies

In market, a wide variety of solar cells are available. These cells are made of using
different materials. The name of a particular solar cell or solar cell technology depends
on the name the material used in that particular technology. The properties of materials
used in different type of solar cells are different. Hence, different types of solar cells
have different values of solar cell parameters like efficiency (η), short circuit current
density (Jsc), open circuit voltage (Voc) and Fill Factor (FF).
The list of commercial solar cells technology, materials and efficiency is given in Table
3.5. The commonly available commercial solar cells along with h, A, Jsc, Voc and FF
are mentioned in Table 3.6.

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Factors Affecting Electricity Generated by a Solar Cell

There are five common factors that affect the power generated by solar cells. They are
as follows:
1. The conversion efficiency (η),
2. The amount of light (Pin),
3. The solar cell area (A),
4. The angle at which day light falls (q ), and
5. The operating temperature (T )

Effect of Conversion Efficiency (η)

Of the total light energy falling on a solar cell, only some fraction of the light energy gets
converted into electrical energy by the solar cells. The ratio of electrical energy
generated to the input light energy is referred as conversion efficiency of solar cells. The
conversion efficiency of solar cell is fixed, based on material and the manufacturing
process. Once a solar cell of given material is manufactured, its efficiency value
becomes fixed and it cannot be changed.
Efficiency of a solar cell is given in terms of maximum power that solar cell can generate
for a given input solar radiation. The maximum power output (Pmax or Pout) of solar
cells depends on voltage developed across cell terminal and current it can supply. The
cell area also affects the power output. If the instantaneous solar radiation or power
density is Pin, the expression for the efficiency (η) of solar cell can be given as:

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Change in the Amount of Input Light (Pin)
We should keep in mind that the amount of sunlight (intensity of sunlight) falling on solar
cells keeps changing from morning to evening. The current and voltage output of a solar
cell depends on the amount of light falling on it. The electric current generated by solar
cell is directly proportional to the amount of light falling on it. Suppose, a solar cell
produce 1 A current under 1000 W/m2 input solar radiation, then under 500 W/m2 input
solar radiation, the cell will only produce ½ A current (because input radiation is half).
As the amount of sunlight falling on the solar cell increases from morning till afternoon,
the current output of a solar cell also increases from morning till afternoon. From
afternoon, till evening, the amount of sunlight falling on the solar cell decreases, and
hence, the current output of a solar cell also decreases from afternoon till evening. The
output voltage of a solar cell is not affected strongly by change in the amount of light. If
a solar cell produces 1 V at noon time, its voltage will roughly remain same in the
morning as well as in evening hours.
The solar cell current output is proportional to the amount of solar radiation and voltage
is relatively not affected by the variation in sunlight intensity. Therefore, the amount of
power generated (Current x Voltage) by solar cell is proportional to the amount of light
falling on it. The amount of power generated by the solar cells throughout the day keeps
changing (i.e., it is not constant). So, a solar cell gives high power when the intensity of
light falling is high. Similarly, less power is generated when the intensity of light falling is
low.

Change in Solar Cell Area (A)

The amount of maximum output current (Isc or short circuit current) of a solar cells
depends on the area of a solar cells. The current output is directly proportional to the
cell area. So, when solar cell area is large, the amount of electric current generated by it
will be large. Similarly, less amount of electric current will be generated when the cell
area is small. For a given amount of input sunlight if 100 cm2 cell produces 2 A current,
then a 200 cm2 cell will produce 4 A current, and a 50 cm2 cell will produce 1 A current
under same input sunlight intensity. When we divide the generated current by area of
solar cells, we get current/area or current per unit area, which is also referred as current
density. The current density is given in units of A/cm2 or mA/cm2. The current density of
solar cell does not depend on area and for a given sunlight intensity the current density
of solar cell is also fixed.
The output voltage of solar cells does not change with the change in solar cell area (A).
The output voltage is independent of cell area.

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Change in Angle of Light Falling on Solar Cell (𝛳)
The angle of sunlight with respect to solar cell greatly affects the output power. Solar
cell produces maximum power (for given light intensity) when sunlight falls
perpendicular to the surface of solar cells. When the light does not perpendicular to
solar cells, it always gives less output power than maximum possible output power. This
is because when light falls at some angle, some part of light falling on solar cell is
reflected. Hence, the actual light utilized by a solar cell is less than the amount of light
falling on it. So, the output power generated is less when light is not falling
perpendicular to solar cell. Therefore, one should always try to install a solar cell or
module in such a way that most of the time sunlight is close to perpendicular, especially
in the afternoon time when the intensity of sunlight is high.

Change in Solar Cell Operating Temperature (T )

The solar cells output voltage, power and efficiency ratings are given at standard test
condition (STC = 1000 W/m2 and 25°C). The cell output voltage, cell efficiency and
output power depends on cell temperature. In practical applications, the operating
temperature of solar cells may be different than 25°C. The cell temperature varies due
to ambient temperature and in practice, the solar cells are encapsulated (in PV module)
with glass which results in heating of solar cells. Due to encapsulation also solar cell
temperature increases. The change in temperature from standard operating
temperature directly affects the output voltage, efficiency and power. Normally, when a
solar cell operates at temperature above 25°C temperature; the output voltage, cell
efficiency and output power of a solar cell reduces.

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