Partial Shading Of Solar Panels

Another possible issue from partial shading is overheating.

Partial shading of solar panels.

Why even partial shading is bad for solar power systems. While this is often a downside in the case of partial shading it is more difficult to shade significant portions of an amorphous panel compared to the smaller area crystalline panel. In fact a shadow cast on even just part of one solar panel in your solar array can potentially compromise the output of the whole system. Because all cells are connected in a series string the weakest cell will bring the others down to its reduced power level.

In his book renewable energy and efficient electric power systems stanford university s gil masters demonstrates how shading just one out of 36 cells in a small solar module can reduce power output by over 75. However this is not the case. A visual explanation of how shading affects solar panels to help you understand exactly what is meant by partial shading and how it affects the power output of a solar panel check out this video from the alte store. On the micro inverter system i use each panel gets its own mppt controller so i guess each panel whether shaded or unshaded is producing as much power as it can under the circumstances.

What are some strategies for dealing with potential shading of solar arrays. Solar panels work best when there is no shade cast upon them. Another reason amorphous silicon solar panels have superior partial shade performance is they require more area than crystalline silicon panels to produce the same power. Because of partial shading one part of the solar panel generates lower amount of energy as compared to the other non shaded part.

Partial cell shading that reduce solar panel power by half. The fence rail shadow shades less than 10 of the panel area but cuts the power down by about 75 compared to the panels in full sun. Partial shading of even one cell on a 36 cell solar panel will reduce its power output. Intuition suggests that power output of the panel will be reduced proportionally to the area that is shaded.