A Generalised Approach to obtain Characteristic Curve of a Solar PV Module

Budding Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) dealing with solar PV manufacturing, installation, and maintenance need a way to test their outsourced and inhouse PV modules. To keep up with the required power generation and efficiency, PV modules are needed to be tested periodically. The only commercially available equipment to test solar modules is a solar simulator, which provides accurate standard testing conditions (STC) to check the reliability and performance of photovoltaic (PV) panels. However, these simulators are expensive and very delicate because of which their acquisition is quite expensive and maintenance is difficult for MSMEs. Therefore, in this paper, the performance of a commonly available PV module is assessed and discussed comprehensively in a generalized approach. An economical and easily available microcontroller is utilized to obtain the power-voltage (P-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the solar PV module. Henceforth, the implementation of the complete setup is interpreted thoroughly at a real-time platform.