A STUDY ON THE DURABILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES IN THE TROPICS

Abstract

This thesis describes a study on the durability and performance of photovoltaic modules for terrestrial applications in the tropics. Ten types of commercially-available thin-film PV modules and Silicon-wafer PV modules were tested under different stressing conditions to reveal their degradation behaviours under thermal-mechanical stressing, moisture induced corrosion, UV/potential/light induced degradation, thermal ageing/annealing, etc. Moisture ingress simulations were performed to study the influences of structures and materials. Module characteristic tests were also conducted (NOCTsg, Temperature coefficient, Performance at NOCTsg and low-irradiance, Hot-spot, etc). A model for predicting module power was developed which accounts for the effects from degradation and characteristics of PV modules, and its predictions were compared with results from outdoor tests conducted in Singapore.