Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Results from an International Interlaboratory Study on Light- and Elevated Temperature-Induced Degradation (LETID) in Solar Modules

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1924238
This presentation reports recently submitted results from an international interlaboratory comparison study on light- and elevated temperature-induced degradation (LETID) on crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules. A large global network of PV module manufacturers and PV testing laboratories collaborated to design a protocol for LETID detection, and screen a large and diverse set of prototype modules for LETID. We summarize the range of observed degradation and provide initial conclusions on the reproducibility of results across labs. In LETID-sensitive modules, both open-circuit voltage (VOC) and short-circuit current (ISC) degrade by a roughly similar magnitude. We observe, as do previous studies, that LETID affects each cell in a module differently. An investigation of the potential mismatch losses caused by nonuniform LETID degradation found that mismatch loss is insignificant compared to the direct LETID-related losses. We summarize the conclusions drawn from the study, provide an update on a forthcoming standard technical specification for LETID testing of PV modules (IEC TS 63342 ED1), and discuss unresolved questions and potential future work on LETID in PV modules.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1924238
Report Number(s):
NREL/PR-5K00-82118; MainId:82891; UUID:1ad54089-674e-4647-ae08-154a7ca7ff31; MainAdminID:68689
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English