Solar PV Module Reliability Scorecard 2016-2-1473940821
Solar PV Module Reliability Scorecard 2016-2-1473940821
Solar PV Module Reliability Scorecard 2016-2-1473940821
Scorecard Report
2016
Report Contributors
Jenya Meydbray, VP Strategy & Business Development
Frederic Dross, Head of Module Business
Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1
In the spring of 1997, Siemens Solar Industries announced the extension of its module warranty expanding
it from 10 years to 25 years. This announcement marked the beginning of an industry standard, setting the
25-year warranty as a basic requirement for project investors trying to understand the full life economic
viability of solar projects.
Yet even today, the risks associated with module performance over long periods of time remain fairly
unclear. Publicly available and high quality field data on long term operating performance of PV systems is
limited. Additionally, field data takes many years and by that time the technology has evolved. Because of
this, over the past few years high quality and independent lab data has established a critical role in
evaluating PV module quality and long term reliability.
85% of the 234 GW of installed global PV capacity has been in the field for less than five years. It will be
more than twenty years from now before actual lifetime field data for the majority of todays capacity can be
gathered.
With full-life field data more than twenty years away and without access to publicly available data comparing
long-term module reliability by vendor, how can buyers and investors factor quality into their procurement
discussions?
The PVEL-GTM PV Module Reliability Scorecard aims to address this critical problem. With its supplier-
specific performance analysis, the Scorecard can help investors and developers generate quality-backed
procurement strategies to ensure long-term project viability.
As the solar industry matures long term performance and reliability of PV modules and other system
components (i.e. inverters) have received increased focus from the investment community. Reduced cost of
capital has resulted in the out years having real value in discounted cash flow analysis. The objective of any
component quality management strategy is to avoid procuring equipment that exhibits early lifetime failure
and to select equipment that performs successfully over the long term. There are well over one hundred PV
module manufacturers globally active today - often with multiple factories each, sometimes producing in
multiple continents. These manufacturers utilize a broad range of materials, manufacturing techniques and
quality control practices. This results in a wide range of product quality and reliability. To properly address
the risk of early failure of todays products, it is helpful to have a clear understanding of common PV module
failures seen in operating PV power plants. Developing an understanding of how modules age in the field
will highlight technology risks and enable the implementation of an effective procurement quality assurance
strategy.
Aging and failure mechanisms seen over the past several decades have been documented over a wide range
of power plant locations and material sets. Field failures of PV equipment can stem from materials,
fundamental product design flaws or failures in quality control during manufacturing. Figure 2-1 below
indicates leading PV module aging and failure mechanisms that occur as infant mortalities, mid-life failures,
and wear out.
Source: Compendium of Photovoltaic Degradation Rates, D.C. Jordan, et al, NREL, 2015
High Quality 1,936 0.5 0.6 % / year 0.4 0.5 % / year 1.2 % / year
All Module Data 9,977 0.9 1.0 % / year 0.9 1 % / year 1.7% / year
Source: Compendium of Photovoltaic Degradation Rates, D.C. Jordan, et al, NREL, 2015
Failure Categorizations
Discoloration or
Encapsulant
delamination
Cracking, yellowing,
Backsheet
delamination Source: courtesy of DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions, Quantifying PV
Module Defects in the Service Environment, Alex Bradley, et al,
Broken Interconnect
Broken Cell
Solder Bond Failures
Thermal Cycling
Junction Box Adhesion
Module Connection Open Circuits
Open Circuits leading to Arcing
Corrosion
Delamination of Encapsulant
Encapsulant loss of adhesion & elasticity
Damp Heat
Junction Box Adhesion
Electrochemical corrosion of TCO
Inadequate edge deletion
Delamination of Encapsulant
Humidity Freeze Junction Box Adhesion
Inadequate edge deletion
Delamination of Encapsulant
Encapsulant loss of adhesion & elasticity
UV Exposure
Encapsulant Discoloration
Ground Fault due to backsheet degradation
Source: Reliability Testing Beyond Qualification as a Key Component in Photovoltaics Progress Toward Grid Parity, Wohlgemuth, et al, NREL, 2011
The JPL Block Buy program started in the mid-1970s as terrestrial PV module development started to gain
traction. Throughout the programs lifetime, it had the goal of developing and implementing environmental
tests for crystalline silicon modules. By the projects end, it had established many of the tests that are still
used for reliability assessment today, including temperature cycling, humidity freeze and mechanical load.
The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) project was initiated in the late 1970s and focused on both
testing modules and creating standard performance metrics for solar cells. The project is ongoing and is
currently focusing on developing an industry standard for module power verification.
These two programs formed a foundation for todays basic module qualification test, the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61215, and safety test, the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 1703.
First, it should be noted that UL 1703 is purely a safety test. The goal of the test is to ensure that the
module does not pose a hazard during operation.
The IEC 61215 standard is the minimum baseline industry-accepted module assessment program, applying
environmental stress tests first developed in the JPLs Block Buy program. However, the scope of these tests
accounts only for so-called infant mortality and leaves aside a number of common potential causes of failure.
For instance, resilience to PID is not tested at all (more on that later). This means that the IEC 61215 tests
are only well suited to weed out modules that would be likely to fail within the first years in the field
(screening for defects).
Certification testing is performed on only on a small number of samples and isnt necessarily representative
of high volume commercial production over time. Besides, the manufacturer is free to select the physical
modules sent for testing and no random selection out of the production line is necessary. Furthermore,
maintaining certification does not require periodic re-testing unless materials or designs change. Applying
these IEC tests for PV module defect screening is becoming a common and effective Batch Acceptance test,
screening for serial defects for PV module procurement in large residential or commercial procurements or
utility scale projects, but it is not sufficient to start to quantify long-term reliability of the module
construction. Based on DNV GLs experience at least 6% of commercial PV modules do not pass the IEC
61215 Thermal Cycling test see Figure 3-2 below.
Additionally, the IEC certification only functions as a pass/fail set of tests. It does not report the actual
magnitude of degradation after the tests, nor does it seek to discern the root cause of performance loss.
DNV GL (formerly PV Evolution Labs a.k.a. PVEL) developed the Product Qualification Program to support
the downstream solar community back in 2013. The objectives of the program are twofold. First, it provides
PV equipment buyers and PV power plant investors with independent and consistent reliability and
performance data to help implement effective supplier management process (such as an Approved Product
or Vendor List). Additionally, it provides module manufacturers focused on the reliability of their products
the visibility they need to be successful in this competitive market. The Product Qualification Program
provides DNV GLs downstream partners with 3rd party performance data (PAN files, IAM, NOCT, and LID) as
well as reliability data as outlined in the table below. Data in the PV Module Reliability Scorecard is pulled
from this Product Qualification Program. In the past 2 years DNV GL has executed 40 Qualification Programs
across 30 manufacturers.
Figure 4-1 DNV GLs Product Qualification Program compared to IEC 61215
To ensure that light-induced degradation does not jeopardize the conclusions of the chamber testing, all PV
modules in the PV Module Reliability Scorecard were light soaked for at least 40 kWh / m2 before entering
the testing chambers.
Reliability Test Top Result Bottom Result Median Result Std. Dev.
Dynamic Mechanical
-0.18% -7.28% -1.55% 1.98%
Load
REC Singapore
Following preparation and characterization, modules were cycled from -40C to 85C. When the temperature
rises above 25C, the maximum power current is injected into the modules, causing localized heating if
solder joints are degrading. IEC 61215 requires only 200 cycles which may be estimated to represent a few
years of field exposure. The PV Module Reliability Scorecard procedure extends the test to 800 cycles. This
simulates an estimated 25+ years of field exposure. It should be noted that the test procedure does not
combine all conditions that modules may experience in very harsh environments. High-intensity and/or
high-photon-energy light exposure is for instance present in arid desert environments and may expose the
modules to additional failure modes such as encapsulant browning.
Various aspects of the processing steps such as cell soldering and cell etching, as well as the selection of
glass, EVA and backsheet material, impact a modules sensitivity to physical damage from mechanical loads.
It should also be noted that in real-life conditions, large pressure loads can also be combined with other
environmental conditions such as cold and wet environments.
The PV Module Reliability Scorecard utilizes a test sequence of mechanical stress to cause cell cracks (1,000
cycles at 1,440 Pa) followed by thermal stress (50 cycles of Thermal Cycling) to cause crack propagation
followed by freezing moisture stress (10 cycles of Humidity Freeze) which causes cell cracks to impact power
output. This test sequence therefore also probes the ability of modules to sustain high performance despite
presence of cracks or microcracks, for instance originated by rough transportation or installation.
In order to test real-world performance, the tested module is mounted per the manufacturers specifications.
5.4 Humidity-Freeze
Several materials used in PV modules such as junction box and frame adhesives, backsheets, and
encapsulants can absorb moisture. In Northern regions of North America, Europe and Asia, where
temperatures often drop below freezing conditions, this moisture can freeze inside the module package. The
expansion of moisture during this freezing process can be very detrimental to the module integrity. Ice
crystals can cause failure of adhered interfaces resulting in delamination or other mechanical failure.
Corrosion of the cell metallization can also be caused by this environmental test. The humidity-freeze test
mimics environmental conditions where ambient moisture and freezing temperatures coexist.
In the standard IEC 61215 test, modules are exposed to temperatures of 85C and a relative humidity of 85%
for a minimum of 20 hours. This step ensures the modules are saturated with water. The temperature is
then rapidly dropped to -40C for a minimum of a half-hour (maximum 4 hours), freezing any moisture
within the module. This cycle is completed a total of 10 times in the IEC standards test procedure. The PV
Module Reliability Scorecard extends the test to 30 cycles.
High ambient temperature and humidity such as those in some parts of Southern U.S. (e.g. Florida) and in
parts of EU and Asia (e.g. Romania, Turkey, India, and Thailand), as well as some subtropical regions in
Central and South America (e.g. Panama, Brazil), result in conditions that are likely to bring about aging
stimulated by this test, the PV Module Reliability Scorecard uses the Damp Heat test profile outlined in the
IEC standard.
Degradation levels identified by the PV Module Reliability Scorecard testing program should not be used as a
direct forecast of yearly degradation rates for fielded modules. It should be used as a mechanism to Qualify
PV modules and associated Bill of Materials and factory locations, and as a tool to compare module expected
reliability and long-term performance qualitatively.
These tests provide a comparison of how vendors, modules, bill-of-materials and factories compare with one
another on a given set of controlled environmental conditions, stimulating a given set of failure mechanisms
encountered in the field.
By choosing vendors with lower degradation levels the likelihood of technical and financial success for your
project is increased.
6.2 Conclusions
We find three key takeaways from the Scorecards test results.
Overall, many module vendors performed well across all tests. For example, 8 manufacturers
degraded less than 3% after 4 times the IEC duration in Thermal Cycling (the IEC pass/fail criteria
for 200 cycles is 5% degradation).
Two manufacturers performed in the top group on every test: Kyocera and Phono Solar.
Roughly 55 60% of top group modules were manufactured in China. This is roughly equivalent to
the ratio of Chinese module participation in the full PV Module Reliability Scorecard. This
demonstrates that manufacturing location is not a good proxy for reliability.