Spectral Effects in PV Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Both nonconcentrating and concentrating PV performance depends to a greater or lesser extent on the spectral distribution of the irradiance and atmospheric constituents. Indeed, accurately modeling the spectral impact is especially crucial for single-junction large band gap devices—such as amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride or perovskite solar cells—and also for concentrating lattice-matched and metamorphic–mismatched PV materials. In fact, ignoring the spectral influence may be conducive to unrealistic yield predictions in many cases. However, ground-based spectrally-resolved irradiance measurements have scarcely been addressed worldwide, and in general, only broadband irradiance data are available to PV scientists and engineers. This issue is especially problematic in tropical regions, where the prevailing low values of air mass imply that the influence of the spectrum cannot be neglected. Thus, despite the fact that PV is experiencing great momentum in low-latitude countries, the spectral impact on PV assessed by ground-based spectral irradiance measurements still remains largely unknown in tropical sites.

This Special Issue is aimed at publishing original high-quality papers related to the open research questions above. In particular, topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Assessment of the impact exerted on PV by the solar spectrum by means of atmospheric parameters that influence its distribution;
• Research on spectral indices such as average photon energy, blue fraction, useful fraction, spectral factor, SMR, etc.;
• Spectral characterization of sites by means of both ground-based and satellite-based spectrally-resolved irradiance data;
• Evaluation of spectral gains/losses exhibited by PV materials in specific sites on different timescales (instantaneous, monthly and annual);
• Development of methods to improve available spectral correction functions;
• Modelling the spectral impact on PV performance using innovative techniques (e.g., artificial neural networks).

Prof. Gustavo Nofuentes Garrido
Guest Editor

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• photovoltaics
• spectral irradiance
• spectral effects
• air mass
• aerosol optical depth
• precipitable water
• modeling
• performance
• spectroradiometers
• average photon energy
• spectral matching ratio