An innovative technique to compensate energy losses from solar panels

A new chip developed by STMicroelectronics improves the energy efficiency of photovoltaic panels, compensating power fluctuations of individual panels that can damage disproportionately the performance of an entire system, as is the case at present

STMicroelectronics has developed a new system aiming to reduce energy losses from photovoltaic systems formed by an array of panels, so that the whole array becomes more efficient and less costly. This innovation can be applied to domestic equipments or larger plants.

A solar panel can usually lose up to 20% of the power it produces if even a small percentage of its surface is in the shadow, and this disproportionate decrease may affect the entire system. This inconvenience may restrict the choice of the site where the panel is to be installed or even challenge the viability of the project.

The technology developed by STMicroelectronics (a Geneva-based multinational, a merger of French and Italian firms) is essentially based on a new chip named SPV1020, to be applied individually for each panel to adjust its output circuitry, in order to compensate for power fluctuations resulting from varying solar intensity, temperature change or structural failures.

Previously used compensation techniques adjust circuitry output of panels based on the average values of the energy produced by the panels that form the entire array. With the innovation introduced by STMicroelectronics, the same compensation technique will be basically applied, but to each single panel. This way, more energy is delivered, since the panel is no longer affected by possible energy losses or abnormal events regarding another panel in the same array.

(June 2010)