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Control of the STC power in PV modules' supplies for utility scale plants
Author(s) -
Pérez Leonardo,
Coello Jorge,
Lorenzo Eduardo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.3174
Subject(s) - photovoltaic system , pid controller , reliability engineering , sample (material) , degradation (telecommunications) , calibration , computer science , automotive engineering , environmental science , process engineering , electrical engineering , engineering , control engineering , mathematics , temperature control , physics , telecommunications , statistics , thermodynamics
This article presents a specific procedure to control the standard test conditions (STC) power in photovoltaic (PV) modules. It also shows the results of its application on a supply of approximately 700 000 multicrystalline p‐type silicon BSF technology PV modules made by a worldwide known manufacturer (Tier‐1, Q4 2015). First, during the manufacturing process, the analysis of the STC power measurements of the whole supply carried out by the modules' manufacturer is included, where the quality of these measurements was evaluated through a comparative contrast study in an independent laboratory on a sample of 4000 modules. In addition, the light‐induced degradation (LID) on 180 modules and the resistance to the potential induced degradation (PID) in a sample of 125 modules were characterized and critically analyzed. Secondly, during operation phase, the analysis of the STC power after the first 2 years of operation of the modules in desert conditions was also included. These measurements were carried out on a sample of 2000 modules making use of an accredited mobile laboratory. The overall results showed the effectiveness of the implementation of the aforementioned procedure, which is based on the use of a set of reference modules (primary standards) with common calibration origin. It proved to be an effective way of reducing uncertainties all along the quality control process. The susceptibility to PID, as observed on the PID test (chamber method) specified in IEC TS 62804, was practically negligible, and the average LID degradation after 20 kWh/m 2 of exposition to the sun was 1.5%. Finally, the degradation rate in the second year of operation was 0.32% with respect to the initial degradation occurred during the whole first year.