Investigating the Effect of Active Cooling on Grid Connected Solar Power Plant in Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Solar cells produce current by consuming photons energy, generating electron-hole pairs. Solar modules are notoriously sensitive to ambient temperature. New studies put forward shows that global warming would lead to reduced power output across the globe by the year 2100. Climate change is going to have a substantial impact on solar power output and incident sunlight is a varying quantity in terms of time and location. Sunlight is a visible electromagnetic wave that falls into the thermal wavelength category and causes the temperature of the solar cell to augment considerably. One challenge linked with solar cells is that they only capture visible light in the ultra-violet and infra-red spectrum. Higher blue and green energy photons provide higher energy than required for an electron to excite from valence band to conduction band. For hot regions like Sukkur, this problem plays a great role in impeding solar cell’s performance. Another reason for the rise in temperature is Ohmic resistance inside module due to metallic current collecting lines. Hence, every single ^oC rise in cell temperature causes a significant power loss. Numerous studies have been shown to reduce solar panel temperature and enhance their performance. This study uses a water cooling scheme to improve the performance of poly and mono-crystalline panels. The central objective of this study is to estimate the potential surge in power yield of 849 kW solar plant installed at Sukkur IBA University, Sukkur, Pakistan by the introducing water cooling scheme. Results indicated considerable improvement in the module performance and estimated an added 10% improved power yield.