An improved approach to extract the single-diode equivalent circuit parameters of a photovoltaic cell/panel

The paper offers a novel approach to parameter estimation of a single-diode solar cell/panel equivalent circuit, based on analysis of either technical characteristics supplied by the manufacturer or user-obtained experimental I–V curve. The derived model allows predicting the solar cell/panel output for arbitrary environmental conditions. The method combines a solution of an algebraic equations system with an optimization algorithm. The main advantage of the proposed method is that in order to obtain the required parameters of the model, minimal set of experimental data is required. In order to validate the feasibility of the proposed approach, several solar panels of different types from several manufacturers were analyzed. The results demonstrate 0.1–0.5% estimation precision when the Standard Operation Conditions data from the manufacturers' datasheets are employed.