Solar PV module technologies

Abstract Knowing the climate change impacts of the energy sector, a focus is made on promoting environmentally friendly technologies. On the other side, the increasing energy demands give new opportunities for power generation. Renewable energy sources can generate energy and they seem to be more sustainable when compared to fossil fuel energy sources. Among these renewables, energy from the sun, that is, solar energy seems to be available in abundant capacities. It is a clean and inexhaustible energy that can be harvested using photovoltaic (PV) devices. These devices generate electricity when sunlight is incident. The generation potential depends on various factors such as the intensity of the solar light, local weather conditions, and the type of PV material. This chapter provides brief information on different photovoltaic technologies that are currently available on the market. In addition, it presents a few novel module concepts, and sheds light on measures that are taken to improve traditional PV modules. The performance characteristics of PV modules as well as various faults and diagnosis methods are also discussed. Finally, attention is drawn to degradation mechanisms and service life as well as standards and procedures for module testing.