Extending the lifetime of crystalline silicon PV modules (EUPI-PV Partnership)

The degradation rate might vary depending on many factors such as material properties, environmental stress (solar irradiance, humidity, temperature, wind speed, dust, etc.), installation, design and type of components and connections, with some components deteriorating on their own and others impacting additional PV components, leading to more severe failures. To tackle these issues and extend the lifetime of PV modules (and systems) proposals are expected to:

• Identify defects and failure modes encountered in recently developed high-efficiency or novel design c-silicon modules themselves and their components, exploring their mechanisms and root causes, reviewing each component’s susceptibility to defects and failures and impacting additional PV components;
• Develop, where necessary, simple, cost-effective and accurate module defect detection techniques (including through Artificial Intelligence (AI)), applicable to most PV modules and systems;
• Propose mitigation approaches at module and system level and validate approaches through modelling and/or AI modelling and lab testing;
• Perform outdoor field experiments and testing to determine degradation rates and/or to identify defects and failure modes and estimate service lifetime.

Different locations representing the European range of climates are to be considered for field experiments.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership for Innovation in Photovoltaics (EUPI-PV). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership for Innovation in Photovoltaics (EUPI-PV) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.