Out-door reliability and degradation of HIT, CIGS, n-type multi-busbar, PERC, and CdTe modules in Shanghai, China

Abstract As the installation of PV power grid increases, it becomes vital to know the out-door reliability and degradation of the modules. In this study, more than 30 kW modules have been installed in Chinese Academy of Sciences-Shanghai Institute of Microsystem & Information Technology (SIMIT). The outdoor performance of seven different PV modules, i. e. HIT, CIGS, n-type multi-busbar module, PERC, and CdTe were measured from 2016 to 2018. The performance of all of the seven kinds of PV modules is excellent in March, April and May of 2018, owing to the relative low temperature and the intense irradiance. The daily and monthly PR of the PV modules displays distinct seasonal cyclic patterns. The PR calibrated to 25 °C (PRT = 25°C) is more consistent than the uncalibrated PR throughout the whole year. The comparison of the annual average uncalibrated PR is: bifacial HIT (1.0345)＞CIGS (1.0258)＞n-type multi-busbar module (0.9656)＞monofacial HIT (0.9648)＞sc-Si PERC (0.9591)＞mc-Si PERC (0.9346)＞CdTe (0.9067). Moreover, the power degradation after the installation more than 2 years is: mc-Si PERC (5.33%)＞n-type multi-busbar module (3.19%)＞sc-Si PERC (1.32%)＞monofacial HIT (0.25%). The property improvement of monofacial HIT and bifacial HIT after the light soaking was observed and the power increase of bifacial HIT is 0.72% in these two years, owing to the metastability of the amorphous—crystalline silicon heterointerface after the light soaking.