Evaluation and modeling of the potential effects of a module manufacturing anomaly
Abstract Photovoltaic lifetime predictions are in great demand, but are exceedingly difficult to achieve with uncertainties small enough to be useful. During the construction of photovoltaic modules, small unplanned variability in materials or processes can have profound effects on module durability. Thus, continual monitoring of production quality is needed. In the subject production run, module quality, as monitored by damp heat testing, revealed a subset of modules that were prone to higher degradation rates. An assessment of the potential long‐term power loss and mitigation strategies was needed. To do this, modules were exposed to variable levels of humidity and temperature with periodic monitoring. The analysis takes into account the kinetics of the degradation and the spatially and temporally varying humidity content within the module during accelerated stress testing. This is an important aspect for extrapolating laboratory results to field exposure because moisture ingress is diffusion limited in most laboratory module tests but not limited in these fielded modules. This analysis predicted that although a solder flux induce degradation mechanism is significant in accelerated stress test, this is probably an artifact of a process with a very large acceleration factor that is not likely to be significant for deployed modules. The degradation mechanism affected a limited area around the tabbing helping to minimize the effect. Three years after the system was commissioned, the fielded modules indeed show no significant power loss.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1395104
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1401558
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5J00-68792
- Journal Information:
- Progress in Photovoltaics, Vol. 25, Issue 12; ISSN 1062-7995
- Publisher:
- WileyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Influence of pre-existing damages on the degradation behavior of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules
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journal | March 2018 |
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