Affect of Shading on a Photo Voltaic (PV) Panel

PV Shading Types defined:

The following comes from the Kyocera website. Their website http://www.kyocerasolar.com is a good read and informative and explains shading well

Shading:

PV modules are very sensitive to shading. some brands of 12V PV modules cannot even be shaded by the branch of a leafless tree.

Shading obstructions can be defined as soft or hard sources. If a tree branch, roof vent, chimney or other item is shading from a distance, the shadow is diffuse or dispersed. These soft sources significantly reduce the amount of light reaching the cell(s) of a module. Hard sources are defined as those that stop light from reaching the cell(s), such as a blanket, tree branch, bird dropping, or the like, sitting directly on the glass. If even one full cell is hard shaded the voltage of that module will drop noticeably compared to its un-shaded value. If enough cells are hard shaded, the module will not convert any energy.

Partial-shading even one cell of a 36-cell module, such as the will reduce its power output. Because all cells are connected in a series string, the weakest cell will bring the others down to its reduced power level. Therefore, whether ½ of one cell is shaded, or ½ a row of cells is shaded as shown above, the power decrease will be the same and proportional to the percentage of area shaded, in this case on a small 17V system loss can be up to 50%. The modern 36V solar panels tend to have cells grouped in behind three separate diodes. Depending on the layout and configuration of the three sets only one or group might be affected. Currently the higher wattage PV are protected by diodes for portions (zones) of a panel

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We use a tool called a Solar Pathfinder to determine Solar Panel shading when establishing the site and capacity of a PV array, there is an APP available that

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