Ahead of PV Tech launching its new PV IndiaTech conference, on 24-25 April 2019, in Delhi, I review in this blog what the event is all about, and why the timing of the event has turned out to be perfect as India debates how to create a sustainable manufacturing segment that supplies quality modules to its downstream segments.
PV is increasingly becoming the cheapest energy source and therefore has become the energy source with the highest yearly capacity additions! Even in 2018, after some scepticism right after SNEC 2018, due to the announcement of the Chinese Government to stop supporting PV as intensively as in 2017, more than 100GW (109GW) have been installed worldwide (we actually bet a crate of beer on that!) and 125GW has been forecasted to be installed in 2019.
Recently billed by solar industry experts as another degradation crisis that could be worse than the impact on PV module performance than PID (potential Induced Degradation), ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member, Hanwha Q CELLS has highlighted that both its mono and multicrystalline products have performed exceptionally well in LeTID (Light and elevated Temperature Induced Degradation) tests undertaken by Fraunhofer CSP.
When we visit conferences and industrial players, we are very often surprised at how many responsible scientists for PERC production have never heard about the severe degradation effects that PERC devices can show – in particular when talking about LeTID (Light and elevated Temperature Induced Degradation) alias Carrier Induced Degradation (CID).
The International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V. (ISC Konstanz) has signed a technology transfer agreement with PV module assembly equipment supplier based in Finland for R&D centre’s advanced ‘BiSoN’ (Bifacial Solar cell On N-type) and ZEBRA (diffused n-type IBC) solar cell technology.
The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed the world’s first full-sized Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) bifacial solar module using International Solar Energy Research Center (ISC) Konstanz, ‘ZEBRA’ solar cells.
This paper presents a summary of the status of bifacial PV in respect of the technology in mass production, the installed PV systems, and the costs relating both to module production (cost of ownership – COO) and to electricity (levelized cost of energy – LCOE). Since the first bifacial workshop, organized by ISC Konstanz and the University of Konstanz, in 2012, many things have changed. Bifacial cells and modules have become cost effective, with installed systems now adding up to more than 120MWp and the technology becoming bankable. Large electricity providers have recognized the beauty of bifacial installations, as the lowest costs per kWh are attainable with these systems. The authors are sure that by the end of 2017, bifacial PV systems amounting to around 500MWp will have been installed, and that by 2025 this type of system will become the major technology in large ground-mounted installations.
Early results from a test array in Germany using bifacial ‘BiSoN’ module technology have indicated significant yield gains compared to a nearby reference site using standard modules.
