Energy yield modeling of 5J solar cell based CPV modules

Energy yield of AZUR SPACE Solar Power 5J CPV modules has been measured in Freiburg, Germany on three specimen modules. Energy yield calculations using the tool PVsyst have been done for these modules. A first comparison of measured and calculated values shows that the energy yield of 5J solar cell based CPV modules can be modelled accurately with PVsyst. However, further validation using measurement data from locations other than Freiburg is required. Furthermore, the in-house developed detailed energy yield modeling tool YieldOpt has been used to evaluate the impact of spectral irradiance variations at different locations on the PVsyst input parameter set, especially on the utilization factors. The YieldOpt model was used to quantify the impact of spectral irradiance variation on the electrical characteristic of AZUR SPACE 5J CPV modules. Two locations in Chile and one location in Namibia with high yearly DNI are evaluated together with the location of Freiburg. For each of these locations, PVsyst utilization factors (UF) have been determined. In this manner, it is demonstrated that the UFs are depending on the spectral irradiance condition at the distinct location. However, the impact of the different UFs on energy yield is shown to be marginal, at least for energy yield calculations in Freiburg.