21-kW Thin-Film PV Technology Validation -- An NREL/Solar Energy Centre of India MOU Cooperative Project

This paper summarizes findings during a one-week (27-31 October 2003) site visit to the Thin-Film Technology Test Bed at India's Solar Energy Centre (SEC) near New Delhi. The U.S. and Indian governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding in March 2000 to undertake a 50-50 cost-shared 21-kW thin-film PV technology validation project to evaluate the performance of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules under Indian climatic conditions. This project benefits Indian researchers by giving them experience with cost-effective PV materials, and it benefits the United States because data will be sent to the appropriate U.S. thin-film PV manufacturers for evaluation and analysis. During the visit, NREL personnel engaged in technical discussions regarding thin-film PV technologies with Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources engineers and scientists. Issues included inspecting the newly constructed arrays, discussing better methods of electrically loading the PV arrays, taking I-V traces, and gathering baseline I-V data.