Abstract
Shadows dramatically reduce solar panel output because individual cells are wired in chains (series). Blocking one cell chokes the current for the entire chain. While bypass diodes bypass shaded sections, severe shadows can still cause "hot spots", which permanently damage panels. The proposed work presents an experimental measurements on the impact of shading on monocrystalline power losses. The solar module is exposed under the real environment conditions for direct solar radiation of 500 W/m2 and 80 W/m2 solar radiation at penumbra shading of shaded area with operating solar module temperature 25oC at ambient temperature 18oC. The Solar Module Analyzer simulator was used in this study, where 10 pattern of shading are tested. The photovoltaic solar module performance in terms of outlet power and fill factor with its corresponding efficiency are greatly affected by shadow. The maximum output power drops drastically, often much more than the shaded area percentage would suggest ; 25% shading can lead to 60% power loss and also 50% shading can lead to 60% power loss. It is noticeable that there is a sudden change in the behavior of the I-V and P-V characteristic curves at a certain range of open circuit voltage 9-9.5V.