Equivalent electric circuit modeling of PV devices is widely used to predict PV electrical performance. The first task in using the model to calculate the electrical characteristics of a PV device is to find the model parameters which represent the PV device. In the present work, parameter estimation for the model parameter using various evolutionary algorithms is presented and compared. The constraint set on the estimation process is that only the data directly available in module datasheets can be used for estimating the parameters. The electrical model accuracy using the estimated parameters is then compared to several electrical models reported in literature for various PV cell technologies. modified diode ideality factor (V) diode ideality factor air mass angle of incidence irradiance (W/m2) band-gap energy of PV cell material (eV) fill factor fraction of diffuse radiation absorbed in the module PV module output current (A) light current (A) diode reverse saturation current (A) Boltzmann's constant, 1.38066E−23 (J/K) irradiance dependence parameter for I L temperature dependence parameter for a number of cells in series in a module's cell-string number of cell-strings in parallel in module number of cells in series in a module's cell-string electrical power (W) elementary charge, 1.60218×10−19 (coulomb) series resistance (Ω) shunt resistance (Ω) plane-of-array absorbed solar radiation at operating conditions (W/m2) temperature (°C) voltage (V) Temperature coefficient of maximum power point current temperature coefficient of short circuit current temperature coefficient of open circuit voltage temperature coefficient of maximum power point voltage thermal voltage per cell at temperature Tc temperature coefficient of open circuit voltage overall diode ideality factor of PV module reference cell condition ambient beam radiation PV cell diffuse radiation effective radiation; experimental module back surface; modeled maximum power point open circuit point reference cell condition short circuit point IV point at module voltage equal to half of open circuit voltage IV point at module voltage equal to average of max. power and open circuit voltages ambient 
Parameter estimation for five- and seven-parameter photovoltaic electrical models using evolutionary algorithms