INVESTIGATION OF SUITABLE TIME FOR THE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION OF MONO-CRYSTALLINE PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS AT FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, ABEOKUTA (FUNAAB), ALABATA, OGUN ST

Abstract

 Human existence relies on solar energy either directly or indirectly and the world at large cannot continue to exist, remain or live without the solar energy. Solar power in Nigeria can serve as a source of sustainable energy if fully utilized due to abundant availability all year round energy and its regular appearance on daily basis in the sky under a friendly environment. The maximum output current and power of solar panel used in harvesting solar energy are obtained at solar noon. The time of solar noon differs from place to place. The study investigated suitable time for the performance measurement and evaluation of mono-crystalline photovoltaic panels at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, Nigeria. The main materials used for work consists of six 80 W (480 W) solar panels of sunshine product made in Germany, CM 5024 PWM 40 A digital intelligent solar charge controller 12/24 V and two 200 AH (400 AH) solar batteries. The output current and cumulative charges were read and recorded for a period of 21 days between 6: 30 am to 7: 30 pm for each day. The sunshine hour for each day was estimated from the cumulative charge and the peak current for each day. The average output current from the panels had a value of zero at 6:30 am which increases to a peak value of 21.4 A at 1: 00 pm (solar noon) then dropped gradually to zero at 7: 00 pm. The study demonstrates that the sunshine hours vary from day to day and the estimated average sunshine hour obtained for the period of the 21 days was 6.4 hours. The results of the investigation indicated that the time of maximum output current obtained changes from day to day which may be due to change in time of the solar noon but was between the periods of 1: 30 pm and 2: 30 pm. The time obtained would be the best period to carry out performance measurement and evaluation on the solar panel for the location (Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, Nigeria) in other to obtain accurate estimation of the maximum power output.

Keyword: Solar noon; Sunshine hour; Solar powered system; Output current; Output power; Solar panel