Nominal power (photovoltaic)

Nominal power is the nameplate capacity of photovoltaic (PV) devices, such as solar cells, modules and systems. It is determined by measuring the electric current and voltage in a circuit, while varying the resistance under precisely defined conditions. The nominal power is important for designing an installation in order to correctly dimension its cabling and converters. The peak power is not the same as the power under actual radiation conditions. In practice, this will be approximately 15-20% lower due to the considerable heating of the solar cells. Moreover, in installations where electricity is converted to AC, such as solar power plants, the actual total electricity generation capacity is limited by the inverter, which is usually sized at a lower peak capacity than the solar system for economic reasons. Since the peak DC power is reached only for a few hours each year, using a smaller inverter allows to save money on the inverter while clipping (wasting) only a very small portion of the total energy production. The capacity of the power plant after DC-AC conversion is usually reported in WAC as opposed to Wp or WDC. The nominal power of PV devices is measured under standard test conditions (STC), specified in standards such as IEC 61215, IEC 61646 and UL 1703. Specifically, the light intensity is 1000 W/m2, with a spectrum similar to sunlight hitting the earth's surface at latitude 35°N in the summer (airmass 1.5), the temperature of the cells being 25 °C. The power is measured while varying the resistive load on the module between an open and closed circuit (between maximum and minimum resistance). The highest power thus measured is the 'nominal' power of the module in watts. This nominal power divided by the light power that falls on a given area of a photovoltaic device (area × 1000 W/m2) defines its efficiency, the ratio of the device's electrical output to the incident energy. In the context of domestic PV installations, the kilowatt (symbol kW) is the most common unit for peak power, for example Ppeak = 1 kW.