Energy performance assessment of market available photovoltaic module technologies under Kuwait climate condition

Energy performance assessment of the two main photovoltaic technologies available in 2015 market operates under hot arid climatic conditions for the state of Kuwait is carried out. For the case of one MWp PV plant, the study investigated the influence of climatic parameters on energy production and performance ratio based on the daily, monthly and yearly energy produced from crystalline silicon based and thin film technology photovoltaic technologies. The assessed technologies are monocrystalline, polycrystalline and thin-film of cell types of cadmium telluride (CdTe) and CdS/CdTe semiconductor. The assessment is based on the manufacture provided PV modules characteristics and 30 years average hourly values of the ambient air dry temperatures, horizontal solar radiation and average wind speed for the state of Kuwait. The main results of this study are: For same maximum power for all investigated technologies compared with Polycrystalline one the Monocrystalline technology plant requires extra area by 3.696%, thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) requires extra area by 4.34% and thin-film cadmium sulphide (CdS)/cadmium telluride (CdTe) (CdS/CdTe) requires extra area by 16.1% respectively. While, referenced to the net energy produced from Polycrystalline PV technology: the Monocrystalline technology plant produces extra annual net energy by 0.552%, thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology produces extra annual energy by 0.43% and thin-film CdS/CdTe technology produces extra annual energy by 0.62%, respectively. The CdS/CdTe PV technology has the higher performance ratio values of the all-over the hot months of the year for the state of Kuwait. Modules with tilting angle of 30 degree with the horizontal have the higher yearly average incident solar energy of 2157.49 kWh/m2 for the state of Kuwait.