Photovoltaics: Precision Power Measurement for the Fastest Growing Renewable Energy Technology

The JRC's European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) recently updated its ISO 17025 calibration accreditation and can now offer top precision electrical performance calibration for PV cells and modules.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Photovoltaic energy systems

This report outlines the European Commission's Joint Research Centre's contribution to standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) continues to play a significant role in European and international standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. In particular JRC experts are convenors for working groups in both the relevant IEC and CENELEC technical committees, were the project leader of one standards published by the IEC in 2019 and made a significant contribution to many others. JRC is also the project leader for two more standards which are currently subject to the standardisation process.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Photovoltaic energy systems: Summary of the JRC's contribution to International and European standards in 2018

This report outlines the JRC contribution to standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. The JRC continues to play a significant role in European and International standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. In particular JRC staff are convenors for working groups in both the relevant International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) technical committees, and were the project leader of two standards (IEC 61853-3 and IEC 61853-4) which were published by the IEC in 2018. JRC is also the project leader for another 3 standards (IEC 60904-1, IEC 60904-4 and IEC 60904-10) which are progressing through the standardisation process and has made contributions to 24 others (as part of the various project teams).JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

State-of-the-art for assessment of solar energy technologies 2019

To realize the EU target of energy transition to a carbon neutral energy system, wide scale deployment of photovoltaic solar energy is required. This report describes the contribution of the European Solar Test Installation to enable this transition.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

State-of-the-art for assessment of solar energy technologies

Photovoltaics (PV) are expected to make a major contribution to achieving European and global climate change mitigation goals over the coming 35 years. It is the renewable energy technology with the largest scope for cost reduction and efficiency gains, as well as exploiting the largest resource. The rapid technical evolution needs to be matched by standards to ensure the highest level possible of product quality, reliability and sustainability, as well as transparent market conditions. This requires reliable, reproducible and widely applicable measurement protocols for the assessment of electrical performance of PV devices of traditional as well as emerging PV technologies. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) plays a prominent role in developing, validating and implementing such measurement protocols, exploiting more than 35 years of expertise developed in the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), the European Commission’s reference laboratory to validate electrical performance and lifetime of PV devices. The JRC works together with policy makers, industry and the research community to monitor the progress of PV technology and helps develop the solutions for the future. This directly supports the European Union’s objective of attaining an increasing share of renewable energies in the market (20% in 2020 and at least 32% in 2030). ESTI is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited calibration laboratory. As such, it is involved in benchmarking, intercomparisons (bilateral and round robin (RR)) and proficiency tests to maintain and improve its measurement capabilities for solar irradiance and electrical performance of PV devices. The results of these international activities is directly used, mainly through the International Electrotechnical Commission’s Technical Committee 82 (IEC TC 82), as input for revision of existing standards or for development of new standards for assessment of the electrical performance of PV devices. This work concerns both measurement methods and PV technologies. Furthermore, ESTI actively promotes transfer of knowledge about the measurement procedures to the European and International research community, provides the PV traceability chain by generating PV reference materials for its partners and clients and offers verification of PV devices (mainly based on new technologies). In this report the activities of 2018 are summarised. Starting from the traceability chain of solar irradiance measurements according to international standards, the activities of ESTI in establishing the PV traceability chain at its own laboratory is outlined. Then the activities in international intercomparison measurements for the major instruments used in the traceability chain are described, starting from cavity radiometers and spectroradiometers to PV devices (both cells and modules). These serve to establish the traceability, stability and conformity of ESTI calibration measurements. This in-house metrology activity is then used to provide the PV traceability chain to clients and partners by generating reference materials, i.e. by calibrating PV cells and modules for them under the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation as calibration laboratory. Another crucial activity is to verify those PV devices which claim to have achieved extraordinary performance, be it world record efficiencies or other performance beyond the usual. Last not least, the activities on measurement methods are described, which span from the actual development of new methods and their validation to their implementation into the ESTI quality system and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation scope. Thereby, this annual report: — verifies the status of ESTI’s unique independent traceability chain for solar irradiance measurements; — summarises benchmarking activities with peer external international organisations; — summarises results of PV device calibrations performed for EU industry and research organisations; — provides an update on the adequacy of measurement methods used to assess the electrical performance of PV products and prototypes.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

ARTEFACTS: How do we want to deal with the future of our one and only planet?

The European Commission’s Science and Knowledge Service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), decided to try working hand-in-hand with leading European science centres and museums. Behind this decision was the idea that the JRC could better support EU Institutions in engaging with the European public. The fact that European Union policies are firmly based on scientific evidence is a strong message which the JRC is uniquely able to illustrate. Such a collaboration would not only provide a platform to explain the benefits of EU policies to our daily lives but also provide an opportunity for European citizens to engage by taking a more active part in the EU policy making process for the future. A PILOT PROGRAMME To test the idea, the JRC launched an experimental programme to work with science museums: a perfect partner for three compelling reasons. Firstly, they attract a large and growing number of visitors. Leading science museums in Europe have typically 500 000 visitors per year. Furthermore, they are based in large European cities and attract local visitors as well as tourists from across Europe and beyond. The second reason for working with museums is that they have mastered the art of how to communicate key elements of sophisticated arguments across to the public and making complex topics of public interest readily accessible. That is a high-value added skill and a crucial part of the valorisation of public-funded research, never to be underestimated. Finally museums are, at present, undergoing something of a renaissance. Museums today are vibrant environments offering new techniques and technologies to both inform and entertain, and attract visitors of all demographics.JRC.H.2-Knowledge Management Methodologies, Communities and Disseminatio

Quantification of Interfacial Segregation by Analytical Electron Microscopy.

Abstract not availableJRC.H-Institute for environment and sustainability (Ispra

Laser Beam Induced Current for Visual Inspection of Long-Term Exposed PV Crystalline Silicon Modules

Laser Beam Induced Current (LBIC) can be used to generate two dimensional maps of PV modules. Electrical as well as optical defects generate constant in the image and therefore LBIC can be used to complement traditional Visual Inspection of (poly-)crystalline PV modules. Here the method is applied to two modules which had been exposed for nearly 20 years continuously in a natural working environment. The LBIC maps revealed firstly the location of defective cells within the module and secondly the presence of defective areas within a specific cell.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Calibration of multi-junction (tandem) thin film photovoltaic modules under natural sunlight

We present a procedure for calibrating tandem thin film photovoltaic modules under naturalsunlight. The distinct steps involve pre-conditioning via light soaking, spectral response measurements and I-V measurements under natural sunlight. The measurements were done using a crystalline silicon reference cell as well as two filtered reference cells designed to spectrally match the top and bottom junctions in the tandem module.JRC.DDG.F.8-Renewable Energy (Ispra

Linearity of photovoltaic devices: quantitative assessment with N-lamp method

The short-circuit current output of photovoltaic (PV) reference device is typically used to determine the incident irradiance of natural or simulated sunlight. Normally the PV reference device is calibrated at standard test conditions and other irradiances are calculated based on a proportionality assumption (termed linearity) between short-circuit current output and incident irradiance. Here the linearity of PV devices is newly defined including a quantitative correction for non-linearity (NL) when measuring incident irradiance. Linearity can be determined experimentally by the flux addition principle such as in the two-lamp method. The latter provides information about linearity between two irradiance levels which differ by a factor of two, but no information on linearity inside this interval. Here this concept is extended to the N-lamp method. It is shown that this provides more detailed linearity information with low uncertainty. Measurements were made with an 11-lamp steady-state solar simulator and showed a NL deviation of 2% in the irradiance range from 100 W m−2 to 1100 W m−2 for the PV reference cell tested. The method is easily implemented, provides detailed quantitative linearity assessment at low cost and can be considered a primary method for linearity assessment, as it does not require any reference device.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable