abstract: Infant mortality rate of field deployed photovoltaic (PV) modules may be expected to be higher than that estimated by standard qualification tests. The reason for increased failure rates may be attributed to the high system voltages. High voltages (HV) in grid connected modules induce additional stress factors that cause new degradation mechanisms. These new degradation mechanisms are not recognized by qualification stress tests. To study and model the effect of high system voltages, recently, potential induced degradation (PID) test method has been introduced. Using PID studies, it has been reported that high voltage failure rates are essentially due to increased leakage currents from active semiconducting layer to the grounded module frame, through encapsulant and/or glass. This project involved designing and commissioning of a new PID test bed at Photovoltaic Reliability Laboratory (PRL) of Arizona State University (ASU) to study the mechanisms of HV induced degradation. In this study, PID stress tests have been performed on accelerated stress modules, in addition to fresh modules of crystalline silicon technology. Accelerated stressing includes thermal cycling (TC200 cycles) and damp heat (1000 hours) tests as per IEC 61215. Failure rates in field deployed modules that are exposed to long term weather conditions are better simulated by conducting HV tests on prior accelerated stress tested modules. The PID testing was performed in 3 phases on a set of 5 mono crystalline silicon modules. In Phase-I of PID test, a positive bias of +600 V was applied, between shorted leads and frame of each module, on 3 modules with conducting carbon coating on glass superstrate. The 3 module set was comprised of: 1 fresh control, TC200 and DH1000. The PID test was conducted in an environmental chamber by stressing the modules at 85°C, for 35 hours with an intermittent evaluation for Arrhenius effects. In the Phase-II, a negative bias of -600 V was applied on a set of 3 modules in the chamber as defined above. The 3 module set in phase-II was comprised of: control module from phase-I, TC200 and DH1000. In the Phase-III, the same set of 3 modules which were used in the phase-II again subjected to +600 V bias to observe the recovery of lost power during the Phase-II. Electrical performance, infrared (IR) and electroluminescence (EL) were done prior and post PID testing. It was observed that high voltage positive bias in the first phase resulted in little/no power loss, high voltage negative bias in the second phase caused significant power loss and the high voltage positive bias in the third phase resulted in major recovery of lost power. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Engineering 2011

abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) modules undergo performance degradation depending on climatic conditions, applications, and system configurations. The performance degradation prediction of PV modules is primarily based on Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) procedures. In order to further strengthen the ALT process, additional investigation of the power degradation of field aged PV modules in various configurations is required. A detailed investigation of 1,900 field aged (12-18 years) PV modules deployed in a power plant application was conducted for this study. Analysis was based on the current-voltage (I-V) measurement of all the 1,900 modules individually. I-V curve data of individual modules formed the basis for calculating the performance degradation of the modules. The percentage performance degradation and rates of degradation were compared to an earlier study done at the same plant. The current research was primarily focused on identifying the extent of potential induced degradation (PID) of individual modules with reference to the negative ground potential. To investigate this, the arrangement and connection of the individual modules/strings was examined in detail. The study also examined the extent of underperformance of every series string due to performance mismatch of individual modules in that string. The power loss due to individual module degradation and module mismatch at string level was then compared to the rated value. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2011

abstract: Potential induced degradation (PID) due to high system voltages is one of the major degradation mechanisms in photovoltaic (PV) modules, adversely affecting their performance due to the combined effects of the following factors: system voltage, superstrate/glass surface conductivity, encapsulant conductivity, silicon nitride anti-reflection coating property and interface property (glass/encapsulant; encapsulant/cell; encapsulant/backsheet). Previous studies carried out at ASU's Photovoltaic Reliability Laboratory (ASU-PRL) showed that only negative voltage bias (positive grounded systems) adversely affects the performance of commonly available crystalline silicon modules. In previous studies, the surface conductivity of the glass surface was obtained using either conductive carbon layer extending from the glass surface to the frame or humidity inside an environmental chamber. This thesis investigates the influence of glass surface conductivity disruption on PV modules. In this study, conductive carbon was applied only on the module's glass surface without extending to the frame and the surface conductivity was disrupted (no carbon layer) at 2cm distance from the periphery of frame inner edges. This study was carried out under dry heat at two different temperatures (60 °C and 85 °C) and three different negative bias voltages (-300V, -400V, and -600V). To replicate closeness to the field conditions, half of the selected modules were pre-stressed under damp heat for 1000 hours (DH 1000) and the remaining half under 200 hours of thermal cycling (TC 200). When the surface continuity was disrupted by maintaining a 2 cm gap from the frame to the edge of the conductive layer, as demonstrated in this study, the degradation was found to be absent or negligibly small even after 35 hours of negative bias at elevated temperatures. This preliminary study appears to indicate that the modules could become immune to PID losses if the continuity of the glass surface conductivity is disrupted at the inside boundary of the frame. The surface conductivity of the glass, due to water layer formation in a humid condition, close to the frame could be disrupted just by applying a water repelling (hydrophobic) but high transmittance surface coating (such as Teflon) or modifying the frame/glass edges with water repellent properties. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Engineering 2012

One of the most pressing problems nowadays is climate change and global warming. As it name indicates, it is a problem that concerns the whole earth. There is no doubt that the main cause for this to happen is human, and very related to non-renewable carbon-based energy resources. However, technology has evolved, and some alternatives have appeared in the energy conversion sector. Nevertheless, they are relatively young yet. Since the growth in renewable energies technologies wind power and PV are the ones that have taken the lead. Wind power is a relatively mature technology and even if it still has challenges to overcome the horizon is clear. However, in the PV case the technology is more recent. Even if it is true that PV modules have been used in space applications for more than 60 years, large scale production has not begun until last 10 years. This leaves the uncertainty of how will PV plants and modules age. The author will try to analyse the aging of a specific 63 kWp PV plant located in the roof of a building in Gävle, monitoring production and ambient condition data, to estimate the degradation and the new nominal power of the plant. It has been found out that the degradation of the system is not considerable. PV modules and solar inverters were studied, and even if there are more elements in the system, those are the principal ones. PV modules suffered a degradation of less than 5%, while solar inverters’ efficiency dropped from 95,4% to around 93%.

Este trabalho apresenta abordagens para a avaliação do fenômeno da Degradação Induzida pelo Potencial (PID do inglês Potential Induced Degradation) em módulos e instalações fotovoltaicas de c-Si. Nos ensaios em laboratório, a IEC TS 62804-1:2015 foi aplicada e ações adicionais são sugeridas como forma de adaptação da especificação técnica para o acompanhamento da degradação durante o ensaio e para melhor indicar a propensão do equipamento a se recuperar das consequências da aparição de PID. Nos ensaios em campo, avaliou-se a solução convencional do mercado de reverter a degradação através de circuitos anti-PID, além de apresentar a aplicação de técnicas de detecção do fenômeno em sistemas operacionais. A abordagem teórica e os resultados práticos mostram que o procedimento de aferição de tensões individuais de operação é um método útil para detectar PID. Os estudos de caso apresentados indicam que esta metodologia é eficaz inclusive na detecção precoce do fenômeno para diferentes topologias de células fotovoltaicas de c-Si. / This work presents approaches to assess the Potential Induced Degradation (PID) on c-Si photovoltaic modules and installations. The IEC TS 62804-1:2015 was applied to the laboratory tests and some additional actions are suggested. The adaptation of the technical specification aims to monitor the degradation rates during the tests and also to consider the capacity of the photovoltaic modules to recover from the degradation. In the field detection methodologies are presented and anti-PID circuits were also tested. The theoretical approach reveals that individual voltage measurements are useful to detect PID even in its early stage, as can be seen on the case studies presented.

Este trabalho apresenta abordagens para a avaliação do fenômeno da Degradação Induzida pelo Potencial (PID do inglês Potential Induced Degradation) em módulos e instalações fotovoltaicas de c-Si. Nos ensaios em laboratório, a IEC TS 62804-1:2015 foi aplicada e ações adicionais são sugeridas como forma de adaptação da especificação técnica para o acompanhamento da degradação durante o ensaio e para melhor indicar a propensão do equipamento a se recuperar das consequências da aparição de PID. Nos ensaios em campo, avaliou-se a solução convencional do mercado de reverter a degradação através de circuitos anti-PID, além de apresentar a aplicação de técnicas de detecção do fenômeno em sistemas operacionais. A abordagem teórica e os resultados práticos mostram que o procedimento de aferição de tensões individuais de operação é um método útil para detectar PID. Os estudos de caso apresentados indicam que esta metodologia é eficaz inclusive na detecção precoce do fenômeno para diferentes topologias de células fotovoltaicas de c-Si. / This work presents approaches to assess the Potential Induced Degradation (PID) on c-Si photovoltaic modules and installations. The IEC TS 62804-1:2015 was applied to the laboratory tests and some additional actions are suggested. The adaptation of the technical specification aims to monitor the degradation rates during the tests and also to consider the capacity of the photovoltaic modules to recover from the degradation. In the field detection methodologies are presented and anti-PID circuits were also tested. The theoretical approach reveals that individual voltage measurements are useful to detect PID even in its early stage, as can be seen on the case studies presented.