In-field monitoring of eight photovoltaic plants: degradation rate along seven years of continuous operation

Authors

  • Alessio Carullo Politecnico di Torino
  • Antonella Castellana Politecnico di Torino
  • Alberto Vallan Politecnico di Torino
  • Alessandro Ciocia Politecnico di Torino
  • Filippo Spertino Politecnico di Torino

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21014/acta_imeko.v7i4.599

Abstract

The results of more than seven years (October 2010-December 2017) of continuous monitoring are presented in this paper. Eight outdoor photovoltaic (PV) plants were monitored. The monitored plants use different technologies: mono-crystalline silicon (m-Si), poli-crystalline silicon (p-Si), string ribbon silicon, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), thin film, and cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film. The thin-film and m-Si modules are used both in fixed installations and on x-y tracking systems. The results are expressed in terms of the degradation rate of the efficiency of each PV plant, which is estimated using the measurements provided by a multi-channel data acquisition system that senses both electrical and environmental quantities. A comparison with the electrical characterization of each plant obtained by means of the transient charge of a capacitive load is also made. In addition, three of the monitored plants are characterized at module level, and the estimated degradation rates are compared to the values obtained with the monitoring system. The main outcome of this work can be summarized as the higher degradation rate of thin-film based PV modules with respect to silicon-based PV modules.

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Published

2019-01-09

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 4 (2018)

Section

Research Papers

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