Micro-level Performance Analysis of Solar PV Modules based on Technology and Location

A solar cell is the basic unit of PV modules, for which the silicon semiconductor is widely utilized. In the present scenario of an exponentially growing market of solar PV technology-based electricity generation, researchers have to think of another Solar PV technology for customers to fulfill the future demand. As of now, the maximum share is of silicon-based solar PV technology. In this paper, a series of experiments are conducted with the help of a solar PV emulator, and collected data is analyzed to obtain comparative performance parameters. Therefore, so that the customer can concentrate other than silicon technology-based PV modules. The performance of several PV module technologies is estimated on emulated data for various locations. It is found that for all locations mono, polycrystalline silicon, and HIT (hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer), have average performance ratio 78.97%, 71.99% and 96.92% respectively, with CIS (copper indium gallium selenide solar cell) having 65.46% which is also of interest with a tradeoff between performance and cost. Average return amount for the above technologies across the locations ranging from 2539.9 USD to 6349.9 USD approximately, with a key focus on CIS and CdTe (cadmium telluride). It is also seen that at most of the locations, the CIS and CdTe Technology-based PV modules have a payback period very close to fatigue life, so there is no problem about the guaranteed output.