Through its Photovoltaic Solutions business, American technology company DuPont Electronics & Imaging will collaborate with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE to optimize accelerated testing protocols for crystalline silicon solar panels. The German solar energy research institute will validate and accelerate solar panel sequential testing methods developed by DuPont.
The assessment of Fraunhofer will help DuPont in service life estimation calculations and address what DuPont says are the most common types of panel degradation observed in the field at the backsheet level, by type of material used. Fraunhofer will refine the testing protocols to have a simpler and faster way to help resolve 'one of the biggest challenges of the photovoltaic industry'.
Tests will be carried out based on DuPont's Module Accelerated Sequential Testing (MAST) protocols under realistic stresses experienced in the field (for details on MAST, see TaiyangNews Market Survey on Backsheets 2018)
"The aim of this work is to determine whether the proposed accelerated testing protocols can accurately predict service lifetime of solar panels made with different types of materials. Our intent is to move from the current IEC standards which are limited to predicting early stage failure mechanisms, to a longer-term view of panel aging in the field," said Fraunhofer ISE's Project Manager, Karl-Anders Weiss.