Wind effect on PV module temperature: Analysis of different techniques for an accurate estimation

Photovoltaic (PV) module temperature predictions are crucial to accurately assess the efficiency of PV installations. In this study we focus on the cooling effect of wind on PV cell temperature. We show that for most of the technologies installed at a PV test facility in Bolzano (Italy), models including wind data predict PV cell temperature better than standard approaches which do not include wind data. Moreover, we show that wind data from numerical weather prediction models can replace in-situ wind measurements: when they are used as model input, the prediction also improves significantly compared to the standard approach. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.