A Simulation Study on the Annual Energy Yield Gain of Solar Modules by Reduction of Mismatch Losses through Sorting of Solar Cells

The sorting of solar cells before getting assembled in a module is an essential step in the production of solar modules. The common method is sorting the solar cells into power classes based on the measured data at the standard testing conditions (STC). Although this method may help to reduce the mismatch losses between the cells for this specific operating condition it cannot be claimed that mismatches will also be reduced for other atmospheric conditions such as at higher temperatures or at low-light conditions. In this study we not only consider STC but also the annual energy yield and how to improve both through selection of the solar cells based on an improved sorting. The time resolved simulations provided with measurement data of industrial solar cells and measured irradiances show that the annual energy yield can be increased up to 0.48% by the introduction of sorting parameters consisting of the weighted sum of IMPP and RSHUNT.