An Experimental and Case Study on the Evaluation of the Partial Shading Impact on PV Module Performance Operating Under the Sudano-Sahelian Climate of Cameroon

Partial shading is a factor that influences the performance of a PV module. The study sought to evaluate the impact of partial shading on PV module performance in the Sudano-Sahelian climate conditions of Cameroon. The behavior of the PV module was simulated using MATLAB/Simulink for 12 months with data from the town of Yagoua. The power, current, and voltage losses of the PV module were estimated by varying the partial shading rate from 5.0% to 95.0%, with an increase factor of 5.0%. The results show that, when the shading ranges from 5.0% to 55.0%, the power and current losses are very significant and vary from 3.0% to 52.0% and 3.0%–53.0%, respectively. The voltage in this shading range remains almost invariant. For shading from 60.0% to 95.0%, the power losses increase slightly and reach approximately 60.0%. A very small current loss is observed, varying from 1.0% to 3.0%. Significant voltage losses are noted and vary from 55.0% to 59.0%. From 40.0% shading rate onwards, a mismatch is observed on the power-voltage characteristics curve by the presence of two maximum power points. This method can be used to evaluate the efficiency of different PV array topologies under partial shading. The results show the importance of paying attention to partial shading, however small its occurrence.