How does shade affect the performance of a PV solar system?
One of the leading causes of power loss in a solar PV system is when part of the panel or array becomes shaded. In a panel there will usually be either 60 or 72 cells connected together. Each cell produces a certain voltage and amperage, the cells are configured and connected in a combination of series and parallel connections to produce the correct amount of power. If any individual cells performance is degraded by shade, the performance of the entire panel will fall to a point relative to the worst performing cell. Likewise, in a string of panels, the entire string suffers performance reduction to that of the lowest performing panel. A solar installation should be designed in a way such that none of the panels are even partly shaded at any point of the day.
