Abstract
Outdoor-aged photovoltaic modules that have experienced golf-ball sized hail are characterized by flash testing and photoluminescence, electroluminescence, thermal, and ultraviolet fluorescence imaging. These measurements were performed immediately after the hailstorm and then again after another two years and four years in the field. The modules originally experienced different ranges of hail damage with some having cracks on approximately half of the cells and some having few to no cracked cells. Flash testing shows that the hail-damaged modules with the most cracked cells have 3 to 4% less power than those with the least damage. After four more years in the outdoor climate of Golden, Colorado since the hailstorm, all of the modules still exhibit similar relative power and amounts of cell cracking, suggesting that the hail damage has only initially reduced power but has not yet increased the degradation rate.
Original language | American English |
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Pages | 763-766 |
Number of pages | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 20 Jun 2021 |
Event | 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021 - Fort Lauderdale, United States Duration: 20 Jun 2021 → 25 Jun 2021 |
Conference
Conference | 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Fort Lauderdale |
Period | 20/06/21 → 25/06/21 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 IEEE.
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/CP-5K00-78969
Keywords
- electroluminescence
- imaging
- photovoltaic cells
- reliability