Abstract:
This thesis investigates the effect of temperature on the performance of crystalline silicon solar
cell at Debre Markos. The study considers the performance of solar cells in the temperature
range 281.97K–299.33 K and annual average temperature range 296.675K-283.95K. Based on
this, the relation between temperature and electrical performance parameters including energy
band gap, short circuit current, open circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency were studied.
The effect of temperature on these temperature dependence performance parameters is studied by
using the existing mathematical modeling equations and metrological data. Here, the temperature
data used in this study was also gathered from the meteorology site of Debre Markos and the
study considered the monthly average maximum and minimum and annually average minimum
and maximum temperature values from the year 2017-2021. By using the data and utilizing the
modeling, the graphs of these performance parameters and temperature have been sketched by
using the existing software called “Origin”. The rate of change of performance parameters with
temperature, dJsc/dT, dEg/dT, dVoc/dT, dFF/dT and dղ/dT are calculated and compared with the
available data in the literature.
The study shows that the performance of solar cell decreases as the temperature increases, and
more importantly the rate of decrees are expressed numerically at Debre Markos for the first
time. The study showed that saturation current increases as temperature increases with an
average rate of 1.37x10 -12 mA/cm -2
/K. The energy gap of solar cell decreases as temperature
increases, and monthly average energy gap is 1.11327eV from the year 2017-2021 in the selected
site. Open circuit voltage and fill factor of the cell tends to decline as the temperature increase at
a rate of 1.56mV/K and 0.060%/K, respectively. Apparently, the efficiency of the cell decreases
as the temperature increases, and average minimum and average maximum efficiency of the
crystalline silicon solar cell, in the city for the selected city, is respectively 27.11% and 28.46%
while the annually average efficiency of the cell remains to be 27.78%. The highest device
efficiency is observed in January. The trend of the device efficiency tends to have similarity to
the fill factor, open circuit voltage, energy band gap as well as the temperature. The study has
practical implication in relation to installation and efficient utilization of solar cell at Debre
Markos. It studies the potential and related efficient utilization of solar cells at Debre Markos.