API field
Bandgap
Bandgap energy of the cell material; not read by the model
Unit eV
What it is
The bandgap energy of the cell material in electron-volts. In the one-diode model it sets how fast the diode saturation current grows with temperature. The model does not read this input. The Mermoud model uses 1.121 eV, silicon's value, for every technology, thin-film modules included, although cadmium telluride and amorphous silicon cells have a larger bandgap. The De Soto model uses 1.12 eV with a small temperature drift for both of its representative modules.
Typical values and how to get it
About 1.12 eV for crystalline silicon, 1.5 eV for cadmium telluride and 1.7 eV for amorphous silicon. The field keeps the value a PAN file carries. If not given: 1.121 eV. The Mermoud module model uses 1.121 eV for every technology and does not read this value yet.
References
- De Soto, Klein & Beckman 2006, Improvement and validation of a model for photovoltaic array performance, Solar Energy 80(1) 78–88
API
module.e_g_ev