UNDERSTANDING TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON PV SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

Thomas Nordmann, Luzi Clavadetscher,

luzic@tnc.ch, nordmann@tnc.ch
TNC Consulting AG, Seestrasse 141, CH-8703 Erlenbach, Switzerland.

ABSTRACT The 18 grid connected PV plants investigated are lo-

cated in Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan and Switzerland. The
Within the framework of Task 2 of the Photovoltaic
monitored annual datasets were supplied by the Task 2 mem-
Power System Programme (PVPS) of the International En-
bers of each country. All the 18 plants are grid-connected
ergy Agency (IEA) performance results of grid-connected
systems and the modules are made from crystalline silicone
and stand-alone PV systems in different countries have been
cells.
compared. In this paper the effect of the elevated cell-tem-
perature on the annual performance of 18 selected grid-con- The types of mounting are grouped in 4 main types:
nected PV systems of different mounting (freestanding, roof-
• Facade (integrated)
mounted and integrated PV facades) from different geo-
• Sloped roof
graphic location in 5 countries are analysed. Annual data-
• Freestanding
sets of hourly data have been used for this in depth analysis.
• Flat roof

1. INTRODUCTION
The IEA PVPS Database now contains monitored
monthly datasets from 370 PV systems of different tech-
nologies, located in 15 countries [1] [2]. About 48 % of these
are mounted on a sloped roof, 45 % are freestanding, mounted
on a flat roof or on a soundbarrier and 6 % are on a facade.
The degree of building integration varies from non to highly
integrated. Some of the datasets in the IEA PVPS Database
contain the measured mean module temperature. By using
annual datasets of hourly monitored data it was possible to
determine the rise in module temperature with the irradia-
tion and also the quantify the energy losses due to elevated
module temperature for specific type of mounting.
2. PLANTS INVESTIGATED
Facade
5 100
3. MODULE TEMPERATURE
The following figures (2 to 6) show the rise of the mod-
ule temperature (Tm - Tam) in respect to the irradiation for the
different types of mounting. The figures represent hourly
data during the operation of the plant over one year. For each
type of mounting two samples are shown, usually one with
high and one with a low module temperature. A wide spread
in cluster of points would indicate influences other than the
irradiation, such as wind or airflow.
3.1 Sloped roof, highly integrated
The plant Stadelhofen in Switzerland (figure 2) shows
a high module temperature. The cells are mounted on the
inside of a compound insulation glass of a slightly sloped
roof. It seems that there is little air circulation inside the
building in the roof area. The maximum measured module
temperature was 85°C and the mean rise in temperature from
Sloped roof Freestanding Flat roof
ambient is about 55 K at 1000 W/m2. This plant showed the
highest module temperature of the plants compared, this re-
Temperature [°C], PR [%]

4 80 sults in an annual loss of 11.3 %. The integrated compound

modules are part of the architectural design and provide day-
kwh / kWp * d

3 60
light in corridor of a school building.
2 40

60
1 20
Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

50
0 0
40
Aachen

Marzili
Nagoya City 4
Stadtmühle F

Muttenz
Domat

Zulehner
Wildkogelbahn

Stadtmühle R
Bolzano
Laus
Hiroshima-City
Klammt AG

Becker

Portugaller
Stadelhofen

Bologna
Buchinger

30

20

10
Conversion Losses System Losses Final Yield Stadelhofen
0
Performance Availability Modultemperature 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2]

Figure 1, shows the annual values of the normalised

losses and yields, the performance, the availability of the Figure 2, rise in the module temperature from ambient,
plant and the module temperature of the 18 plants plant Stadelhofen Switzerland.
analysed.
3.2 Facade, integrated
50 50
Figure 3 shows the module temperature of two facade

Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

40 40
integrated systems in Germany. The facade elements of the
plant Aachen are partly transparent compound glass insula- 30 30
tion modules like on the plant Stadelhofen. There seems to
20 20
be a free airflow on the inside of the building, resulting in a
lower cell temperature. 10 10
Zulehner Bolzano
The facade of the plant Klammt AG consists of opaque, 0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
insulated PV-cladding elements with an air-gap between the Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2] Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2]
module and the insulation for cooling the air-gap seems to
narrow for proper cooling, resulting in a higher cell tem- Figure 5, rise in the module temperature from ambient,
perature. plants Zulehner in Austria and the plant Bolzano in Italy.
The typical rise in module temperature from ambient
for the 3 integrated facade system is between 46 and 52 K 4. TEMPERATURE LOSSES
and the annual temperature losses are between 5 and 7 %.
For the purpose of comparison only the data during the
full operation of the plant were used for the calculation of
50 50 the values represented in figure 6. Any large differences in
the conversion losses (LC) are due to shading, partial dis-
Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

40 40
connection of strings or disconnection single inverters in
30 30 multi inverter systems.
20 20

10 10
Aachen Klammt AG Facade Sloped roof Freestanding Flat roof
0 0 100% 50
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2] Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2] 80% 40

Temperature [°C]
60% 30

Figure 3, rise in the module temperature from ambient, 40% 20

plants Achen and Klammt AG in Germany.
20% 10
3.3 Sloped Roof
0% 0
Aachen

Wildkogelbahn

Muttenz
Stadtmühle R
Hiroshima-City

Marzili
Klammt AG
Stadtmühle F
Becker

Domat
Nagoya City 4

Zulehner
Bolzano
Stadelhofen

Bologna
Buchinger

Portugaller

Laus
Figure 4, is an example of a well cooled and not so well
cooled sloped roof system. The range of the rise of tempera-
ture from ambient in the systems investigated is between 20
and 34 K and the temperature losses range from 1.7 to 7 %.
Temperature Losses System Losses
The cooling of a PV array mounted in a sloped roof depends
Conversion Losses Final Yield
on the level of integration or on the size of the air-gap be-
tween the roof and the modules. Modultemperature Ambient Temperature

50 50 Figure 6, yield and losses as percentages, mean daytime

ambient temperature and mean module temperature for 18
Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

Delta T, T_m - T_am [K]

40 40
the plants investigated.
30 30

20 20
Losses Temperature
10 10 16% 60
Buchinger Becker
Rise in Temperature [K]

0 0 12% 40
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Temperature Loss

Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2] Irradiation, G_i [kW/m^2] 8% 20

4% 0

Figure 4, rise in the module temperature from ambient, 0% -20

plants Buchinger and Becker in Austria.
-4% -40
3.4 Freestanding and Flat Roof Sloped roof, Facade Sloped roof Freestanding Flat roof
highly
integrated
Freestanding and flat roof systems usually allow a free
airflow around the modules and have therefore lower tem-
Figure 7, is an overview of the results of all the 18 PV
perature losses. Of the freestanding and flat roof systems
systems, showing the temperature losses and the rise in
analysed the temperature rise is between 20 and 28 K and
module temperature from ambient (K at 1000 W/m2)
the temperature losses between 1.7 and 5 %
grouped by the type of mounting.
Plants analysed Annual Mean Temperatures Module Temperature

Power Irradiation Ambient Ambient Module Maximum Rise Temperature

Tilt Daytime Loss
Mounting Name Country P0 Hi T am T am, d Tm T m, max T m, Hi L t PR Y f, a

[° ] [kW] [kWh / m2] [°C] [°C] [°C] [°C] [K/kWh/m2] [%] [%] [kWh/kWp]

Sloped roof highly integrated Stadelhofen CHE 5 9.4 896 13 17 51 85 55 11.3 80 720

Façade integrated Aachen DEU 90 4.0 785 17 40 67 46 6.4 62 486

integrated Klammt AG DEU 90 20.1 852 15 41 64 52 7.2 59 506
integrated Stadtmühle F CHE 90 16.4 731 11 16 37 65 46 5.3 82 599

Sloped roof Becker AUT 30 3.2 1359 10 14 37 64 34 5.2 63 852

Bologna ITA 24 2.3 1138 22 38 61 23 5.5 83 946
Buchinger AUT 26 1.8 1250 10 16 29 57 20 1.7 68 849
Hiroshima City JPN 19 2.9 1450 19 23 41 70 31 7.0 74 1073
Wildkogelbahn AUT 26 4.7 1407 1 6 20 48 22 -2.1 74 1047

Soundbarrier Domat CHE 45 104.0 1522 10 14 31 54 24 2.8 82 1241

Freestanding Nagoya City 4 JPN 10 3.6 1338 17 21 36 65 26 5.0 82 1098
Freestanding Portugaller AUT 1.3 1300 9 15 33 57 25 3.7 52 670
Other Zulehner AUT 50 2.0 1157 9 15 29 59 20 1.7 70 813

Flat roof Bolzano ITA 40 1.6 1344 16 34 58 27 4.0 75 1004

Laus AUT 39 2.4 1151 11 17 35 64 25 4.2 78 893
Marzili CHE 35 22.7 1290 10 16 34 55 25 3.8 74 956
Muttenz CHE 45 21.2 1164 8 15 31 58 25 2.8 78 911
Stadtmühle R CHE 25 15.0 1092 11 15 31 61 28 2.5 79 859

Table 1, key performance and temperature data of the systems analysed. Of some systems only daytime data was available
and therefore the annual mean ambient temperature is missing.

Of the 18 systems analysed 17 showed an annual tem- Figure 8 is typical example of the monthly variation of
perature losses ranging from 1.7 % to 11.3 %. One alpine the module temperature and the temperature losses. This plant
system, Wildkogelbahn in Austria, due to low ambient tem- in Japan is located in an area with high daytime tempera-
perature, has a temperature gain of 2 %. A well cooled PV tures in the summer months. The temperature losses range
array can have a temperature rise of about 20 K and a tem- from 11 % in July to a gain of 3.6 % in January (figure 9).
perature loss of less than 3 %. Figure 10 shows the annual values for the final yield, sys-
tem losses, conversion losses and the temperature losses.
Figure 7 shows clearly that the type of mounting and
the manner of integration can have a significant influence 12%
on the rise in module temperature and the temperature losses.
Temperature Losses

8%

5. MONTHLY DATA 4%

0%
100% 50

-4%
90% 40 10 20 30 40 50 60
Temperature [°C]

Modultemperature
80% 30

70% 20 Figure 9, mean module temperature vs. temperature

60% 10
losses, plant Nagoya City 4 in Japan.

50% 0
January

May

September

October
March

August

November

December
July
February

April

June

Temperature Losses (5%)

Conversion Losses (7%)

Temperature Losses System Losses System Losses (5%)

Conversion Losses Final Yield

Modultemperature Ambient Temperature

Final Yield (83%)

Figure 8, yield and losses as percentages, mean daytime

ambient temperature and mean module temperature,
monthly values of a freestanding plant, Nagoya City 4 in Figure 10, annual yield and losses, plant Nagoya City 4 in
Japan. Japan.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The analyses of these 18 grid-connected PV systems
showed the importance of the optimal mounting and in the
case of building integration a well designed layout to achieve
an efficient cooling of the PV-modules. Freestanding and
flat roof mounted systems show the lowest rise in tempera-
ture. Sloped roof systems need a free airflow between the
roof and the modules. Integrated facade systems require a
high degree of sophistication to get sufficient cooling of the
modules.
Analysing PV systems data from various sources, it
became clear that optimal placement of the temperature sen-
sor for the ambient and module temperature is important. It
also seems that the DC-power measurement is the most dif-
ficult to get reliable results.

The authors wish to thank their colleagues from IEA

PVPS Task 2 for supplying the data for this study.

7. REFERENCES
[1] IEA PVPS Task 2 Report,
Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems, Report IEA-PVPS
T2-01: 2000, April 2000.
[2] IEA PVPS Task 2 Report,
Operational Performance, Reliability and Promotion
of PV Systems, June 2002.
[3] IEA PVPS Task 2,
Performance Database, May 2003, www.task2.org.
[3] Guidelines for the Assessment of Photovoltaic
Plants,
Document A and Document B, June 1993, JRC, Ispra
Italy.
[4] International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC): Standard IEC 61724, Photovoltaic System
Performance Monitoring - Guidelines for Measure-
ment, Data Exchange and Analysis.
[5] H. Häberlin and Ch. Beutler,
Normalized Representation of Energy and Power for
Analysis of Performance and On-line Error Detection
in PV-Systems.
Proc. 13th EU PV Conference, Nice, 1995.