The most widely used five-parameter model for photovoltaic (PV) modules has good balance between the accuracy and computing efficiency. However, the existing modeling methods that have high accuracy require solving implicit equations of voltage and current, greatly increasing the complexity of the modeling. In this work, we propose a novel iterative method that has no implicit equation to deal with. This method can extract the parameters directly from manufacturer's datasheet, with only one point calculated for each step of iteration. By testing three different types of PV modules, the proposed method is proved to be both accurate and time-efficient, compared with some well-known modeling methods. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.