plant performance

The advancement of solar cell and module technology has meant ever larger, higher power modules are being manufactured, shipped and installed at increasing speeds, placing new importance on product testing and inspection. Here, Enertis explores the role of electroluminescence inspection throughout the supply phase.

Despite the importance of reliability to the cost competitiveness of PV, large data sets enabling high-level investigation of the technology’s performance in the field are relatively scarce. Dirk C. Jordan, Chris Deline, Bill Marion and Teresa Barnes of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Mark Bolinger of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study a unique data set of 100,000 PV systems in the US, drawing out tips for better reliability that have relevance to other parts of the world.

A new study suggests the US solar industry has “turned a blind eye” to the realities of asset performance, with facilities found to be underperforming compared to their production forecasts.

Understanding of LeTID remains incomplete, although its effects on PV power plant performance are recognised as being potentially significant. Friederike Kersten, Matthias Pander, Max Koentopp, Marko Turek, Werner Bergholz and Thomas Pernau of the LeTID Norm consortium outline progress towards developing a standardised test for the defect, a key step inw minimising its impact

With the number of bifacial solar projects now rapidly growing, more is being understood about how to design and build systems that play to the technology’s main strengths. Drawing on recent experiences in the field, Beth Copanas and James Willett from RES outline some of the technical lessons learned on realising bifacial’s full potential.

Potential-induced degradation (PID) is still one of the main reasons for unpredictable power losses in PV power plants. Volker Naumann, Otwin Breitenstein, Klemens Ilse, Matthias Pander, Kai Sporleder and Christian Hagendorf of Fraunhofer CSP examine how the PID susceptibility of PV modules is influenced by environmental stress. It is found that PID may develop in originally PID-resistant modules after a period of one to three years of unsuspicious operation, depending on climatic conditions

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has lauded the early performance of the solar assets it rates, ultimately concluding that operational risk in solar is “more benign” than other renewable technologies.

Solar radiation measurement solutions provider Kipp & Zonen is being acquired by Hach, a manufacturer of measurement equipment primarily in the water sector.

SPONSORED: Wireless monitoring can offer your solar business real-time data with the lowest cost of ownership, explains Aeris.