Research on the Effect of Wind Speed and Angle on Photovoltaic Cell Characteristics

Abstract The effects of wind speed (F) and angle (θ) on the photovoltaic (PV) cells’ (monocrystalline silicon and triple-junction GaAs solar cells) temperature (T) and output characteristics (the short-circuit current (Isc), the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the maximum power (Pmax)) have been studied experimentally and analyzed theoretically. The results first show that T and Isc of both cells decrease, but Voc and Pmax of both cells increase with an increase in F (θ). The reason is that the increase of F (θ) results in the heat exchange between the PV modules and the external environment increasing and tending to be stable. Second, T, Isc, Voc, and Pmax change rate of silicon cell are found to be more affected by F (θ) than that of GaAs cell. The reason is that the temperature coefficient of silicon cell is larger than that of GaAs cell. Finally, T, Isc, Voc, and Pmax of both cells are more sensitive to F than θ. This is because the cell’s temperature changes depend more strongly on F.