Effect of Static Reconfiguration Strategies for Curved BIPV Systems Under Complex Shading Conditions

Curved photovoltaic (PV) systems provide greater architectural form adaptability for building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications. However, the combined effects of external shading and self-shading result in degradation in power output. In this work, the effectiveness of static reconfiguration techniques for performance optimization of curved BIPV systems under complex partial shading conditions was comparatively evaluated. Employing a 6 × 6 total-cross-tied (TCT) curved PV system with a 120° central angle as the case study, this work simulated the curved irradiance distribution and the corresponding I–V/P–V characteristics through an experimentally proven simulation model. A comparative investigation was performed to evaluate the performance enhancement achieved by three static reconfiguration strategies under the complex combined self-shading and external shading conditions. The results indicate that, compared with the original TCT topology without reconfiguration, the proposed static reconfiguration strategies increased the maximum power output up to 58% by effectively mitigating current mismatch under complex shading conditions. Different static reconfiguration strategies exhibit differentiated advantages when addressing specific shading patterns. Overall, static reconfiguration is demonstrated to be a viable optimization approach for curved BIPV systems without introducing additional electrical complexity, and the selection of specific strategies should be determined by the local shading conditions.