PV degradation curves: non‐linearities and failure modes
Abstract
Abstract Photovoltaic (PV) reliability and durability have seen increased interest in recent years. Historically, and as a preliminarily reasonable approximation, linear degradation rates have been used to quantify long‐term module and system performance. The underlying assumption of linearity can be violated at the beginning of the life, as has been well documented, especially for thin‐film technology. Additionally, non‐linearities in the wear‐out phase can have significant economic impact and appear to be linked to different failure modes. In addition, associating specific degradation and failure modes with specific time series behavior will aid in duplicating these degradation modes in accelerated tests and, eventually, in service life prediction. In this paper, we discuss different degradation modes and how some of these may cause approximately linear degradation within the measurement uncertainty (e.g., modules that were mainly affected by encapsulant discoloration) while other degradation modes lead to distinctly non‐linear degradation (e.g., hot spots caused by cracked cells or solder bond failures and corrosion). The various behaviors are summarized with the goal of aiding in predictions of what may be seen in other systems. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
- Authors:
-
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden CO 80401 USA
- Publication Date:
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1401878
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DE‐AC36‐08‐GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Publisher's Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Progress in Photovoltaics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Progress in Photovoltaics Journal Volume: 25 Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
Citation Formats
Jordan, Dirk C., Silverman, Timothy J., Sekulic, Bill, and Kurtz, Sarah R. PV degradation curves: non‐linearities and failure modes. United Kingdom: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/pip.2835.
Jordan, Dirk C., Silverman, Timothy J., Sekulic, Bill, & Kurtz, Sarah R. PV degradation curves: non‐linearities and failure modes. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2835
Jordan, Dirk C., Silverman, Timothy J., Sekulic, Bill, and Kurtz, Sarah R. Fri .
"PV degradation curves: non‐linearities and failure modes". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2835.
@article{osti_1401878,
title = {PV degradation curves: non‐linearities and failure modes},
author = {Jordan, Dirk C. and Silverman, Timothy J. and Sekulic, Bill and Kurtz, Sarah R.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Photovoltaic (PV) reliability and durability have seen increased interest in recent years. Historically, and as a preliminarily reasonable approximation, linear degradation rates have been used to quantify long‐term module and system performance. The underlying assumption of linearity can be violated at the beginning of the life, as has been well documented, especially for thin‐film technology. Additionally, non‐linearities in the wear‐out phase can have significant economic impact and appear to be linked to different failure modes. In addition, associating specific degradation and failure modes with specific time series behavior will aid in duplicating these degradation modes in accelerated tests and, eventually, in service life prediction. In this paper, we discuss different degradation modes and how some of these may cause approximately linear degradation within the measurement uncertainty (e.g., modules that were mainly affected by encapsulant discoloration) while other degradation modes lead to distinctly non‐linear degradation (e.g., hot spots caused by cracked cells or solder bond failures and corrosion). The various behaviors are summarized with the goal of aiding in predictions of what may be seen in other systems. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.},
doi = {10.1002/pip.2835},
journal = {Progress in Photovoltaics},
number = 7,
volume = 25,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Fri Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2835
https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2835
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 90 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Review of the field performance of one cadmium telluride module
journal, November 1998
- del Cueto, J. A.
- Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 6, Issue 6
Analysis of the degradation and aging of a commercial photovoltaic installation
conference, October 2014
- Bradley, Alexander; Hamzavy, Babak; Gambogi, William
- SPIE Solar Energy + Technology, SPIE Proceedings
Performance characterization of cadmium telluride modules validated by utility-scale and test systems
conference, June 2014
- Ngan, Lauren; Strevel, Nicholas; Passow, Kendra
- 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC)
Performance and Aging of a 20-Year-Old Silicon PV System
journal, May 2015
- Jordan, Dirk C.; Sekulic, B.; Marion, B.
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 3
Photovoltaic Degradation Rates-an Analytical Review: Photovoltaic degradation rates
journal, October 2011
- Jordan, D. C.; Kurtz, S. R.
- Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 21, Issue 1
Compendium of photovoltaic degradation rates: Photovoltaic degradation rates
journal, February 2016
- Jordan, Dirk C.; Kurtz, Sarah R.; VanSant, Kaitlyn
- Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 7
The Dark Horse of Evaluating Long-Term Field Performance—Data Filtering
journal, January 2014
- Jordan, Dirk C.; Kurtz, Sarah R.
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 4, Issue 1
Thin-film reliability trends toward improved stability
conference, June 2011
- Jordan, D. C.; Kurtz, S. R.
- 2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
Pitfalls of accelerated testing
journal, June 1998
- Meeker, W. Q.; Escobar, L. A.
- IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Vol. 47, Issue 2
Optically induced conductivity changes in discharge‐produced hydrogenated amorphous silicon
journal, June 1980
- Staebler, D. L.; Wronski, C. R.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 51, Issue 6
Understanding light-induced degradation of c-Si solar cells
conference, June 2012
- Sopori, Bhushan; Basnyat, Prakash; Devayajanam, Srinivas
- 2012 IEEE 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
Reliability and Performance Experience with Flat-Plate Photovoltaic Modules
book, January 1982
- Ross, Jr., R. G.
- Fourth E. C. Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference
Comparison of PV module performance before and after 11 and 20 years of field exposure
conference, June 2011
- Chamberlin, C. E.; Rocheleau, M. A.; Marshall, M. W.
- 2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)