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Photovoltaic (PV) modules operating in tropical regions often experience high working temperatures, which negatively affect voltage output and reduce overall energy conversion performance. This study experimentally compares the thermal and electrical behaviour of three identical 50 Wp polycrystalline PV modules under outdoor tropical conditions in Palembang, Indonesia: an uncooled reference panel, a panel cooled passively using a perforated aluminum plate, and a panel cooled actively using a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) assisted by a heat sink and fan. Raw measurements of solar irradiance, panel surface temperature, output voltage, and output current were logged every 10 s from 09:00 to 15:00 Western Indonesian Time over 14 consecutive days. For reproducible presentation, the values reported in the tables and graphs are 30 min averaged data derived from the validated 10 s raw records.The results show that the TEC-cooled panel provided the lowest operating temperature and the highest gross PV output, reaching a maximum power of 34.24 W and a reference-normalized electrical performance index of 23.45% at an irradiance of 882.06 W/m². The passive perforated aluminum cooling system also improved performance relative to the uncooled panel, producing 26.95 W and an index of 18.46%, whereas the uncooled panel produced 21.56 W and an index of 14.76% under the same interval. The TEC module and fan were powered by an external supply independent of the PV module under test; therefore, all reported TEC results represent gross PV-side performance only and should not be interpreted as net system efficiency. The study provides a direct side-by-side comparison of active and passive cooling strategies for small-scale PV modules in a tropical environment while explicitly defining the measurement interval, data-processing procedure, and energy-boundary limitation.
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Sofijan et al. (2026) studied this question.