Performance degradation in field-aged crystalline silicon PV modules in different indian climatic conditions

Author

Dubey, Richa ; Chattopadhyay, Subrata ; Kuthanazhi, Vivek ; John, Jim Joseph ; Vasi, Juzer ; Kottantharayil, Anil ; Arora, Brij Mohan ; Narsimhan, K.L. ; Kuber, Vaman ; Solanki, Chetan Singh ; Kumar, Ajit ; Sastry, O.S.

Author_Institution

Nat. Centre for Photovoltaic Res. & Educ., Indian Inst. of Technol. Bombay, Mumbai, India

fYear

2014

fDate

8-13 June 2014

Firstpage

3182

Lastpage

3187

Abstract

A survey of field-aged crystalline silicon modules in various climatic conditions in India was carried out, focusing on modules, which show visible signs of degradation. Analysis of the survey data indicates that the power degradation rate is highest in the Hot & Dry climatic zone, followed by the Hot & Humid zone, while it is least in the Cold zone. The degradation in power output of crystalline silicon modules is primarily due to reduction in the short-circuit current, followed by decrease in fill factor while the decrease in open-circuit voltage is very small. Analysis of the survey data also indicates that degradation rate of multi-crystalline silicon is slightly higher than that of mono crystalline silicon.

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; short-circuit currents; silicon; solar cells; Indian climatic conditions; Si; cold zone; field-aged crystalline silicon PV modules; fill factor; hot & dry climatic zone; hot & humid zone; multicrystalline silicon; open-circuit voltage; power degradation rate; short-circuit current reduction; Degradation; Indexes; Joining processes; Silicon; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Ageing; Degradation; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925612

Filename

6925612