Long-term soiling of silicon PV modules in a moderate subtropical climate

AbstractThe results of 28 silicon-based PV modules which were installed from 1981 to 1985 in a free rack configuration in the outdoor test facility of the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) and dismantled at the end of 2014 without cleaning were analysed. The system was composed of modules with two series-connected laminates mounted in a single frame produced by the same manufacturer but using different cell layouts and cover glasses (plain glass or textured glass). The effects of long-term soiling on the PV module performance for more than 30years of outdoor exposure in a moderate subtropical climate and the influence of different cleaning methods from manual cleaning to the use of high pressure water washing were investigated. The influence of the cover glasses and the mismatch due to the particular manufacturing design were also analysed. It was observed that a manual cleaning was effective at improving the output of all the module types. However, additional high pressure water spraying on plain glass modules showed no further improvement, but showed small improvements on the textured glass modules. Overall improvements in Pmax after cleaning ranged from 3.5% to 19.4%, with an average value of 9.8% and an average improvement in Isc of 6.7% were obtained

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

Field testing of portable led flasher for nominal power measurements of pv-modules on-site

Nominal power measurements of individual PV modules are needed to quantify the critical modules of PV plants offering lower energy production than expected. Today’s state of the art procedure of shipping a small number of modules to a laboratory is time- and cost intensive and it bears the chance of accidental damage. The Portable LED Flasher (PLF) was developed to require no dismounting of the modules. The quality of the PLF was tested on three PV plants in Switzerland. Additionally, ten PV modules of each plant were measured in the certified indoor laboratory of SUPSI, resulting in a maximum deviation of 3% of the STC values. Furthermore, a round robin test on a single crystalline silicon reference module at 25°C was performed at the JRC’s ESTI laboratory, the Swiss Mobile Flasher Bus and SUPSI resulting in a maximum deviation of the mean values below 1% compared to the PLF. A throughput of up to 150 modules or 500 modules respectively per day is expected and the total measurement costs are estimated to be about a tenth of the costs compared to an indoor laboratory. Module temperature measurement is crucial for a low total uncertainty. Thus, methods such as pre-shadowing of the module and approximation of cell temperature are the current focus of further improvement of the PLF measurement method

Transitional methods for PV modules, inverters and systems in an Ecodesign Framework

This document contains proposal for the establishment of transition methods in order to facilitate the introduction of regulations governing ECODESIGN , ECOLabel , Energy Label and GPP. This draft has been prepared for the 2nd Stakeholder Meeting for the PV Ecodesign Preliminary Study. The final version will be available at the conclusion of the preparatory study in 2019.JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Standards for the assessment of the environmental performance of photovoltaic modules, power conversion equipment and photovoltaic systems

To support the on-going preparatory activities on the feasibility of applying the EcoDesign, EU Energy label, EU Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy instruments to solar photovoltaic modules, inverters and systems, this report aims to: • Identify, describe and compare existing standards and new standards under development, relevant to energy performance, reliability, degradation and lifetime. • Identify aspects not covered by existing standards, for which transitional methods may be needed.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

Changes of solar cell parameters during damp-heat exposure

The electrical ageing of photovoltaic modules during extended damp-heat tests at different stress levels is investigated for three types of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules with different backsheets, encapsulants and cell types. Deploying different stress levels allows determination of an equivalent stress dose function, which is a first step towards a lifetime prediction of devices. The derived humidity dose is used to characterise the degradation of power as well as that of the solar cell's equivalent circuit parameters calculated from measured current–voltage characteristics. An application of this to the samples demonstrates different modes in the degradation and thus enables better understanding of the module's underlying ageing mechanisms. The analysis of changes in the solar cell equivalent circuit parameters identified the primary contributors to the power degradation and distinguished the potential ageing mechanism for each types of module investigated in this paper. © 2016 The Authors. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2016 The Authors. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.This work was supported in part by the European Commission under FP7 grant N° 262533 SOPHIA (INFRA-2010- 1.1.22_CP-CSA-Infra) and by the Research Councils UK (RCUK) under project ‘Stability and Performance of Photovoltaics (STAPP)’ (contract no: EP/H040331/1)

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