Standard testing of photovoltaic modules for use in renewable energy education

A photovoltaic laboratory exercise has been devised and used in the educational curriculum of the Renewable Energy Programme at the University of Jyväskylä. The purpose of the experimental tasks is to give students of renewable energy a good understanding of standard testing procedures used in industry for characterising photovoltaic modules and to provide practical skills in sizing simple photovoltaic installations. Herein the experimental set-up, basic theory and measurement procedure are described. The experimental apparatus is simple to assemble and uses both standard laboratory equipment and recycled components. From the experimental results, the tested PV cell had a maximum efficiency of 1.4 %, a fill factor of 0.58 and an electrical power production of 300 mW at the maximum power point of operation under standard testing irradiance of 1000 W/m2. At this power output, the load resistance was 0.15 k and module temperature was 25 ± 2ºC.