Lowering PV cost is focus of IEA report
Quality and reliability of PV systems is at the core of discussions during this year's Intersolar Europe. While the PV market grew significantly in the last five years, the question of PV systems performance becomes central to continue lowering both the cost of PV electricity and the cost of financing PV installations.
Following four years of PV systems performance and reliability research, the IEA PVPS programme's Task 13 has begun delivery on a series of five reports summarizing these years of intensive research activities. These reports focus on several aspects of PV performance and reliability and cover the main aspects of quality-oriented activities in the PV sector.
The following three reports focus on PV Performance and the impact of PV module failure, for both crystalline silicon and thin-film technologies. They show that the question of quality and reliability can be managed in a scientific way and that in recent years much progress has been made, in parallel with the growth of the PV markets and industry.
The first of the three published reports focuses on the cause of failure of PV modules: The report shows that the degradation rate for crystalline silicon PV modules could be improved by understanding the technical challenges. It also proposes new test methods for detection of failure in the field. The second report focuses on the performances of thin-film technologies and the major specific differences for performance measurement. The third report details good practices for monitoring and performance analysis and provides guidelines to improve PV systems' performances.
Two additional reports will be published in the coming months, focusing on the analysis of PV systems long-term performance and the degradation behaviour of PV modules in accelerated stress conditions. These reports will complement and close the first phase of this research programme with a consistent and complete set of scientific data that will help industries and financing bodies to better assess the real performance situation of PV systems today and in the near future.
Task 13 was established in 2010 within the IEA PVPS programme in order to continue to research activities started in the former Task 2. It is today one of the most respected Tasks within the programme, with contributors from all over the world. The Task is co-managed by TÜV Rheinland Energie and Umwelt and the Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Solare Energiesysteme ISE, both from Germany.
