Partial Shading Of Solar Panels

Solar panels work best when there is no shade cast upon them.

Partial shading of solar panels.

On the micro inverter system i use each panel gets its own mppt controller so i guess each panel whether shaded or unshaded is producing as much power as it can under the circumstances. By solar choice staff on 26 june 2019. Partial shading of even one cell on a 36 cell solar panel will reduce its power output. The fence rail shadow shades less than 10 of the panel area but cuts the power down by about 75 compared to the panels in full sun.

However this is not the case. Because all cells are connected in a series string the weakest cell will bring the others down to its reduced power level. Because of partial shading one part of the solar panel generates lower amount of energy as compared to the other non shaded part. Another reason amorphous silicon solar panels have superior partial shade performance is they require more area than crystalline silicon panels to produce the same power.

In fact a shadow cast on even just part of one solar panel in your solar array can potentially compromise the output of the whole system. Another possible issue from partial shading is overheating. As the amount of power generated in shaded non shaded parts differs it leads to overheating which in turn reduces the total power output of the solar panel. Partial cell shading that reduce solar panel power by half.

While this is often a downside in the case of partial shading it is more difficult to shade significant portions of an amorphous panel compared to the smaller area crystalline panel. What are some strategies for dealing with potential shading of solar arrays. Intuition suggests that power output of the panel will be reduced proportionally to the area that is shaded. A visual explanation of how shading affects solar panels to help you understand exactly what is meant by partial shading and how it affects the power output of a solar panel check out this video from the alte store.