RELATIONS BETWEEN EFFICIENCY OF POLY CRYSTALLINE SOLAR CELLS AND CLIMATIC PARAMETERS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

The performance of a solar panel is measured in terms of its efficiency in turning sunlight into electricity. This energy is highly influenced by weather variation. This research attempts to find out the relationship between solar efficiency and the Malaysian climate. The output current and voltage of the solar panel had been collected 24 hours non-stop within a week. These data were used to determine the efficiency of solar panel. At the same time, the climate parameters had been recorded using weather station. A correlation test was conducted to establish the relationship between these climate parameters and the solar cells efficiency. Correlation test results showed that the solar irradiance and temperature greatly influence the efficiency of poly crystalline solar cells. However, the humidity and wind speed exerted lesser influence.