Comparative Angle of Incidence Characterization of Utility Grade Photovoltaic Modules

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1481528· OSTI ID:1481528

King, Bruce Hardison ^[1]; Robinson, Charles David ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Angle of incidence response of a photovoltaic module describes its light gathering capability when incident sunlight is at an orientation other than normal to the module's surface. At low incident angles (i.e. close to normal), most modules have similar responses. However, at increasing incident angles, reflective losses dominate response and relative module performance becomes differentiated. Relative performance in this range is important for understanding the potential power output of utility - scale ph otovoltaic systems. In this report, we document the relative angle of incidence response of four utility - grade panels to each other and to four First Solar modules. We found that response was nearly identical between all modules up to an incident angle of ~55°. At higher angles, differences of up to 5% were observed. A module from Yingli was the best performing commercial module while a First Solar test module with a non - production anti - reflective coating was the best overall performer. This page left blank

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: SPP-funded work
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1481528
• Report Number(s): SAND--2018-12462; 668870
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY