EXERGY PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF 300 W SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE

Solar energy provides both heat and light. Solar photovoltaic systems generate electricity by utilising light of solar radiation and thermal energy content of solar radiation is lost to environment. In this paper, an experimental study has been carried out for evaluating energy and exergy output of solar photovoltaic module installed at Poornima University, Jaipur. Energy analysis was performed on the solar photovoltaic module by applying first law of thermodynamics. By applying the second law of thermodynamics, exergy analysis was performed to determine exergy losses and exergy efficiency during the photovoltaic energy conversion process. The various operating parameters of a solar photovoltaic module such as module surface  temperature, ambient temperature, overall heat transfer coefficient, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, fill factor, global radiation etc were determined for a sunny day of March 2016 at Jaipur. The experimental data are used for the calculation of the energy and exergy efficiencies of the PV systems. Energy efficiency is varying between 9% and 14.41% during the test day. In contrast, exergy efficiency for solar photovoltaic module for electricity generation, ranging from 45.80% to 68.16%. It is noted that solar photovoltaic module temperature has a considerable amount of effect on the energy and exergy efficiencies. The energy and exergy efficiencies can be improved by removing heat from the surface of solar photovoltaic module. The heat can be removed with the help of water or air.