Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in tropical regions face a distinctive set of operating challenges that can substantially limit their real-world energy yield. High ambient temperatures, seasonal monsoon irradiance reductions, and soiling accumulation on module surfaces collectively drive performance below the nameplate potential that system designers typically assume. This paper investigates the actual energy output behavior of a 5 kW rooftop solar PV system situated in Thrissur, Kerala - a location that combines abundant annual sunshine with significant thermal and meteorological variability. A structured MATLAB simulation framework was developed to model both the baseline and the post-optimization performance of the system using twelve months of local meteorological data sourced from 2024. The baseline model integrates the temperature coefficient of power, Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT), and a Performance Ratio (PR) of 0.90 to compute realistic monthly energy yields and the annual Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF). Three targeted optimization strategies are subsequently applied: panel surface cleaning to raise the PR from 0.90 to 0.92, passive rear-ventilation cooling through a 10 cm air gap to reduce cell operating temperature by approximately 5 °C, and dynamic seasonal tilt adjustment during the south-west monsoon months (June through September) to recapture irradiance lost due to low solar elevation angles. Simulation results demonstrate that the integrated optimisation strategy raises total annual energy generation from 7,476.4 kWh to 7,860.0 kWh - a net improvement of 5.16 percent. Monthly efficiency gains range from a minimum of 4.27 percent in January to a peak of 6.08 percent in June and August, with the monsoon months exhibiting the highest relative improvement owing to the combined benefit of tilt correction and temperature reduction. The study confirms that low-cost, non-invasive interventions can yield economically meaningful performance gains without modifications to the core electrical infrastructure, and provides a validated MATLAB workflow that can be readily adapted for similar tropical rooftop installations.
Solar PV optimisation, MATLAB simulation, tropical climate, performance ratio, Capacity Utilisation Factor, thermal derating, monsoon solar, rooftop photovoltaics, Thrissur Kerala.
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