Effects of Operating Conditions on Thin Film Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon Modules Performance

Amorphous silicon thin film photovoltaic modules nowadays represent a suitable alternative to crystalline silicon, with a good trade-off between cost and efficiency. Even though they have been under development since the 1970s, their metastable behaviour under real outdoor conditions has still to be fully understood and modeled. In this paper an investigation of thin film amorphous and microcrystalline modules performance is presented. Periodic indoor measurements of I-V characteristics were performed on a set of six modules, both single and multi-junction, which underwent a one year period of outdoor exposure. The goal of the present research is to assess how module performance is affected by operating conditions, mainly temperature and insolation, which contribute to seasonal variation in module performance. Results confirm the yearly sinusoidal-like trend for the main electrical parameters. By mounting the modules both with and without a thermally insulating layer, it was also possible to differentiate between the light soaking and the thermal annealing effects.

POLVERINI Davide;  HULD Thomas;  KENNY Robert; 

2011-11-30

WIP Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur GmbH & Co Planungs KG

JRC63234

http://www.eupvsec-proceedings.com/proceedings?char=E&paper=13008,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC63234,   

10.4229/26thEUPVSEC2011-3AV.2.29,