• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.73-80
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• 2010

This study was conducted to estimate the relative performance of modules with changed characteristics due to long term exposure to the outdoor environment, with a specially made test device for simultaneous measurement of real time power output from the photovoltaic array, taking into account the inclined panel, direct irradiation, power being generated, temperature as well as the optimal analysis timing. In terminology description, M is an abbreviation of module and Group A, Group B are 10 modules series connection (1~10 of M), (11~20 of M) for each of them respectively. The overall mean voltage difference of M-18 with the lowest power output and M-14 with the highest output is-2.13V and it was identifiable that voltage difference was more concentrated to Group B. In addition, in case of M-2 and M-7, M-8, when compared with M-14, the overall mean voltage difference was -0.92V, -1.56 and -0.91V respectively showing the more concentration to Group A. When the temperature of module went up by $1^{\circ}C$, the mean voltage was reduced by 0.35V. For current, Group A was lower than Group B by-0.022A and the ratio of each group was 49.68% and 50.32% respectively, presumably the module with deteriorated properties were more concentrated to Group A relatively. From the comparison of relations with the comprehensive accumulation, M-2, M-7, M-8, M-16 and M-18 were those with deterioration of performance to the worst, thereby requiring precision examination. In comparative efficiency, M-14 was the most excellent one as 12.19% while M-18 as 10.53% was identified that its efficiency was comparatively rapidly reduced.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.283-294
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• 2021

Solar radiation is an important meteorological factor in the agricultural sector. The ground exposed to sunlight is highly influenced by the surrounding terrains especially in South Korea where the topology is complex. The solar radiation on an inclined surface is estimated using a solar irradiance correction factor for the slope of the terrain along with the solar radiation on a horizontal surface. However, such an estimation method assumes that there is no barrier in surroundings, which blocks sunlight from the sky. This would result in errors in estimation of solar radiation because the effect of shading caused by the surrounding terrain has not been taken into account sufficiently. In this study, the shading effect was simulated to obtain the brightness value (BV), which was used as a correction factor. The shaded relief images, which were generated using a 30m-resolution digital elevation model (DEM), were used to derive the BVs. These images were also prepared using the position of the sun and the relief of the terrain as inputs. The gridded data where the variation of direct solar radiation was quantified as brightness were obtained. The value of cells in the gridded data ranged from 0 (the darkest value) to 255 (the brightest value). The BV analysis was performed using meteorological observation data at 22 stations installed in study area. The observed insolation was compared with the BV of each point under clear and cloudless condition. It was found that brightness values were significantly correlated with the solar radiation, which confirmed that shading due to terrain could explain the variation in direct solar radiation. Further studies are needed to accurately estimate detailed solar radiation using shaded relief images and brightness values.