Photovoltaic module reliability studies at the Florida Solar Energy Center

Author

Dhere, Neelkanth G. ; Pethe, Shirish A. ; Kaul, Ashwani

Author_Institution

Florida Solar Energy Center, Univ. of Central Florida, Cocoa, FL, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

2-6 May 2010

Firstpage

306

Lastpage

311

Abstract

The accelerated tests currently carried out on PV modules reduce the infant mortality as well as improve the production techniques during the manufacture of PV modules. However, they do not completely duplicate the real world operating conditions of PV modules. Hence it is essential to deploy PV modules in the field for extended period of time in order to estimate the degradation, if any, as well as to elucidate the degradation mechanisms. Moreover, PV modules should be tested by specially designed tests in harsh climates. In this paper some of the results obtained on a-Si:H modules from various US companies is discussed.

Keywords

hydrogen; life testing; photovoltaic power systems; reliability; silicon; solar power stations; Florida; PV modules reliability; Si:H; US companies; infant mortality; photovoltaic module reliability; production techniques; solar energy center; Circuits; DH-HEMTs; Degradation; Leakage current; Life estimation; Photovoltaic systems; Solar energy; Solar power generation; Testing; Voltage; High Voltage Bias; PVUSA Regression; Photovoltaic; a-Si∶H;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), 2010 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

1541-7026

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5430-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IRPS.2010.5488813

Filename

5488813