Degradation rate of eight photovoltaic plants: results during six years of continuous monitoring

A. Carullo, A. Castellana, A. Vallan, A. Ciocia, F. Spertino
Abstract:
The results of six years of continuous monitoring are presented in this paper that refer to eight outdoors PhotoVoltaic (PV) plants. The monitored plants are based on different technologies: mono-crystalline silicon (m-Si), poli-crystalline silicon (p-Si), string ribbon silicon, Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) thin film and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin film. Mono-crystalline silicon modules and thin-film modules are used both in fixed installation and on x-y tracking systems. The results are expressed in terms of degradation rate of the efficiency of each PV plant, which is estimated from the measurements provided by a multi-channel dataacquisition system that senses both electrical and environmental quantities. A comparison with the electrical characterization of each plant obtained by means of the transient charge of a capacitive load is also proposed. The capacitive-load technique has been implemented immediately after the installation of the PV plants and after 78 months of operation. The obtained results show that both the m-Si plants in fixed installation and on the tracking system had a negligible degradation, while p-Si and string-ribbon Si exhibited a moderate degradation. Higher was the degradation obtained for the thin-film based plants, with a worst behaviour of the plants installed on the tracking systems.
Keywords:
photovoltaic power systems, degradation, electric variables measurement, data acquisition
Download:
IMEKO-TC4-2017-052.pdf
DOI:
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Event details
IMEKO TC:
TC4
Event name:
TC4 Symposium 2017
Title:

22nd IMEKO TC4 Symposium and 20th International Workshop on ADC Modelling and Testing
"Supporting world development through electric&electronic measurements"

Place:
Iasi, ROMANIA
Time:
14 September 2017 - 15 September 2017