Abstract

Owing to the effect of temperature on the maximum power point of photovoltaic modules, the anticipated benefits of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) charge controller are also greatly affected under high-temperature environments. This paper presents experimental study results based on the investigations of the effect of high cell temperatures on the performance of MPPT charge controllers. The study was carried out over three months at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya under moderate and high temperature conditions. The experiments are carried out using two market-ready MPPT charge controllers and a normal pulse-width modulation (PWM) charge controller as the reference. The study establishes that below 50 °C, the MPPT charge controller exhibits significant advantages over its counterpart with about 24% - 29%, additional energy gain. However, at high cell temperatures, the MPPT charge controller loses its added advantage over the PWM charge controller and its performance benefits drop from an average of 28% to 0.2%. This demonstrates that an ordinary PWM charge controller would achieve the same yields under high-temperature conditions and at an even lower premium.