Performance reviews from the Tucson Electric Power solar test yard

At the Tucson Electric Power (TEP) solar test yard, over 20 different grid-connected PV systems are being tested. Most of these PV systems are in the 1 to 2 kW range. We present measured conversion efficiencies, final yields, performance ratios, temperature de-ratings and degradation rates for 20 PV systems. The final yields are also compared to predictions from PVwatts and PVsyst. The systems include flat plate PV modules from Sunpower, Sharp, BP, Uni-solar Sanyo, Shell, Astropower, Solarex, and Evergreen Solar. The performance of several of these flat plate PV systems has been recorded starting in 2003. Since then, several types of concentrating PV modules have been also deployed at the Tucson Electric Power solar test yard, including modules from Solyndra, Prism Solar Technologies Inc., Skyline Inc., and Semprius Inc. At the same location Solon Corporation is testing several flat plate modules with 1-axis and 2-axis trackers.