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 9

Performance of Photovoltaics Under

Actual Operating Conditions
George Makrides1, Bastian Zinsser2,
Matthew Norton1 and George E. Georghiou1
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus
2Institut für Physikalische Elektronik (ipe), Universität Stuttgart
1Cyprus
2Germany

1. Introduction
Amongst the various renewable energy sources, photovoltaic (PV) technologies that convert
sunlight directly to electricity have been gaining ground and popularity, especially in
countries with high solar irradiation. Over the past years PV has shown rapid development
and a wide variety of new technologies from different manufacturers have emerged. For
each PV module type, manufacturers provide typical rated performance parameter
information which includes, amongst others, the maximum power point (MPP) power,
efficiency and temperature coefficients, all at standard test conditions (STC) of solar
irradiance 1000 W/m2, air mass (AM) of 1.5 and cell temperature of 25 °C. As this
combination of environmental conditions rarely occurs outdoors, manufacturer data-sheet
information is not sufficient to accurately predict PV operation under different climatic
conditions and outdoor PV performance monitoring and evaluations are necessary.
The objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of different PV technologies ranging
from crystalline silicon (c-Si) to thin-film and concentrators. Subsequently, a summary of the
main outdoor evaluation performance parameters used to describe PV operation and
performance is outlined. An overview of the effects of different environmental and operational
factors such as solar irradiance, temperature, spectrum and degradation is also provided along
with the results of previously published research efforts in this field. In the last section of the
chapter, the installed PV and data acquisition infrastructure of a testing facility in Cyprus is
presented and a thorough analysis of the climatic conditions and the performance of different
grid-connected PV technologies that have been installed side-by-side and exposed to warm
climatic conditions, typical of the Mediterranean region are given.

2. Overview of photovoltaic technologies

Over the last twenty years, the PV industry showed annual growth rates between 40 % and
80 %, proving its strength and potential to become a major worldwide power generation
source (Joint Research Centre [JRC], 2010). The enormous potential of PV is also evident by
the fact that the existing global energy demands could be met by over 10,000 times, had the
surface area of the Earth been covered with currently available PV technologies (European

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202 Third Generation Photovoltaics

Photovoltaic Industry Association [EPIA] & Greenpeace, 2011). Nowadays, the threat of
climate change and the continuous rise of oil prices have added more pressure for the
integration of renewable technologies for energy production, with PV drawing considerable
attention. More specifically, at the end of 2008 the cumulative worldwide installed PV
capacity was approximately 16 GW (EPIA, 2011). The market growth continued throughout
2009, despite the international economic crisis and according to the European Photovoltaic
Industry Association (EPIA) the installed capacity was 23 GW while in 2010, the
accumulated capacity reached 40 GW worldwide with more than 50 TWh of electricity
production per year (EPIA, 2011). The largest PV market was the European Union (EU) with
more than 13 GW installed in 2010 and a total installed capacity of almost 30 GW as of 2010
(EPIA, 2011).
A wide range of PV technologies now exist that include mono-crystalline silicon (mono-c-
Si), multi-crystalline silicon (multi-c-Si), thin-film technologies of amorphous silicon (a-Si),
micromorph (microcrystalline/amorphous silicon), cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper-
indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS), concentrating PV (CPV) and other emerging PV
technologies. Each technology is mainly described and classified according to the material
used, manufacturing procedure, efficiency and cost.
Amongst the various existing PV technologies, c-Si is the most developed and well
understood due to mainly its use in the integrated circuit industry. In addition, silicon is at
present the most abundant material found in the earth’s crust and its physical properties are
well defined and studied. C-Si dominates the PV technology market with a share of
approximately 80 % today (EPIA & Greenpeace, 2011). The type of c-Si technology depends
on the wafer production and includes mono-c-Si, multi-c-Si, ribbon and sheet-defined film
growth (ribbon/sheet c-Si).
The main characteristic of mono-c-Si is its ordered crystalline structure with all the atoms in
a continuous crystalline lattice. Mono-c-Si technologies are highly efficient but are at the
same time the most expensive amongst the flat-plate existing PV technologies mainly
because of their relatively costly manufacturing processes. Over the past years,
manufacturing improvements of c-Si PV technology have focused on the decrease of wafer
thickness from 400 μm to 200 μm and in parallel the increase in area from 100 cm2 to 240
cm2. The most important limitation of this technology is the cost of the silicon feedstock
which renders the material cost relatively high, particularly as the silicon substrate must
have a thickness of approximately 200 μm to allow the incident light to be absorbed over a
wide range of wavelengths. Despite the high material cost, this technology has remained
competitive due to several manufacturing improvements such as enhancements in wire
cutting techniques that have reduced the wafer thickness and also the production of kerf-
less wafers. Recently, Sunpower announced an efficiency of 24.2 % for a large 155 cm2
silicon cell fabricated on an n-type Czochralski grown wafer (Cousins et al., 2010).
The fact that mono-c-Si modules are produced with relatively expensive manufacturing
techniques initiated a series of efforts for the reduction of the manufacturing cost. Such a
cost improvement was accomplished with the production of multi-c-Si PV which can be
produced by simpler and cheaper manufacturing processes. Multi-c-Si solar cell wafers
consist of small grains of mono-c-Si and are made in a number of manufacturing processes.
The substrate thickness is approximately 160 μm while attempts are being made to lower the
thickness even more. In general, multi-c-Si PV cells are cheaper compared to mono-c-Si as
they are produced in less elaborate manufacturing process, at the expense of slightly lower

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 203

efficiencies. The lower efficiency is attributed to recombination at the grain boundaries

within the multi-c-Si structure. Nonetheless, multi-c-Si currently has the largest PV market
share.
Ribbon silicon is another type of multi-c-Si technology which is produced from multi-c-Si
strips suitable for the photovoltaic industry. In the manufacturing process of this
technology, high temperature resistant wires are pulled through molten silicon to form a
ribbon which is subsequently cut and processed in the usual manner to produce PV cells.
An advantage of this technology is that the production costs are lower than other c-Si
technologies, while the efficiency and quality of the cells remain the same as other multi-c-Si
technologies but lower than mono-c-Si.
The main incentive for the development of thin-film technologies has been their cheap
production cost compared to the c-Si counterparts. Over the past years, thin-film
technologies have shown very encouraging development as the global production capacity
has reached around 3.5 GW in 2010 and is expected to reach between 6 - 8.5 GW in 2012
(EPIA, 2011). Amongst the many thin-film technologies some of the most promising are
CdTe, a-Si, micromorph tandem cells (a-Si/μc-Si) and CIGS. The rapid growth and
importance of thin-film PV is further highlighted by the fact that the world’s first PV
manufacturer to exceed the 1 GW/year production rate and hence to capture 13 % of the
global market was First Solar, a manufacturer of thin-film CdTe modules, in 2009 (Wolden
et al., 2011). Specifically, CdTe has grown from a 2 % market share in 2005 to 13 % in 2010
(EPIA & Greenpeace, 2011).
Amorphous silicon has been on the PV market longer than other thin-film technologies and
this has allowed researchers and manufacturers to understand several aspects of its
behavior. This technology was first commercialized in the early 1980s and since then has
increased gradually in efficiency. The manufacturing of a-Si technologies is dominated by
deposition processes such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and
thus large area, flexible and cheap substrates such as stainless steel and thin foil polymer can
be used (Shah et al., 1999). In comparison to mono-c-Si, a-Si PV cells have no crystalline
order leading to dangling bonds which have a severe impact on the material properties and
behavior. Another important material limitation arises from the fact that this technology
suffers from light-induced degradation, also known as the Staebler–Wronski effect (SWE),
which describes the initial performance decrease when a-Si modules are first exposed to
light (Staebler & Wronski, 1977). In general, this effect has been minimized by employing
double or triple-junction devices and developing micromorph tandem cells, which is a
hybrid technology of c-Si and a-Si. An important advantage of a-Si is the high absorption
coefficient, which is approximately 10 times higher than c-Si therefore resulting in much
thinner cells.
The concept of micromorph (microcrystalline/amorphous silicon) tandem cells was
introduced to improve the stability of a-Si tandem cells. The structure of a micromorph
device includes an a-Si cell which is optimized with the application of a micro-crystalline
silicon (μc-Si) layer of the order of 2 μm onto the substrate. The application of the μc-Si layer
assists the device in increasing its absorption in the red and near infrared part of the light
spectrum and hence increases the efficiency by up to 10 % (EPIA & Greenpeace, 2011).
Oerlikon Solar developed and announced recently a lab cell with 11.9 % stabilized efficiency
(Oerlikon Solar, 2010).

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204 Third Generation Photovoltaics

Another type of thin-film technology is CdTe, which is a II-VI semiconductor with a direct
band gap of 1.45 eV. The high optical absorption coefficient of this technology further allows
the absorption of light by a thin layer, as it absorbs over 90 % of available photons in a 1 μm
thickness, hence films of only 1 - 3 μm are sufficient for thin-film solar cells (Ferekides &
Britt, 1994). PV devices of CdTe first appeared in the 1960s (Cusano, 1963) but the
technological development outbreak came in the early 1990s when efficiencies approached
levels of commercial interest (Britt & Ferekides, 1993). CdTe technology is a front-runner
amongst thin-film PV technologies due to the fact that it can be produced relatively cheaply
and module efficiencies have reached 12.8 % (Green et al., 2011). So far, the achieved
efficiency of this technology is lower compared to c-Si, but higher than triple-junction a-Si.
In comparison to a-Si, the CdTe PV technology does not show initial degradation. In
addition, the power is not affected to the same extent by temperature variations as c-Si
based technologies (Doni et al., 2010). On the other hand, concerns have been raised related
to the availability of tellurium (Te) and the environmental impact of cadmium (Cd). These
concerns have been addressed by Fthenakis et al. (Fthenakis, 2004, 2009; Fthenakis et al.,
2005, 2008). In order to minimize the environmental impact of this technology, a recycling
process for used modules has been introduced (Meyers, 2006) and the rest of the PV
industry is currently moving in this direction (PVCYCLE program).
The properties of several I-III chalcopyrite compounds are also suitable for photovoltaic
applications and amongst them the most promising include copper-indium-diselenide
(CuInSe2) often called CIS, copper-gallium-diselenide (CuGaSe2) called CGS, their mixed
alloys copper-indium gallium-diselenide (Cu(In,Ga)Se2) called CIGS and copper-indium-
disulfide (CuInS2). The first PV devices of copper chalcopyrite appeared in 1976 (Kazmerski
et al., 1976) and since then it was not until the early 1990s that rapid improvements
increased efficiencies to over 16 % (Gabor et al., 1994). Even though the commercial
production of CIGS began in 2007, there are now a number of companies with 10 - 30
MW/year capacities (Wolden et al., 2011). Efficiencies continued to improve exceeding the
20 % threshold (Green et al., 2011) and establishing this technology as the efficiency leader
amongst existing thin-film technologies. The main advantage of CIGS over other existing
thin-film PV technologies is its high efficiency. In addition, CIGS modules have a
performance very similar to that of c-Si technologies but have lower thermal losses as the
power temperature coefficient is lower. A previous study has also shown that CIGS PV
modules show an increase in power output after exposure to sunlight, a phenomenon
known as light induced annealing (LIA) (Jasenek et al., 2002). On the other hand, the
fabrication process of this technology is more complicated than in other technologies and as
a result manufacturing costs are higher. In addition, costs may be also affected by the
limited availability of indium and the difficulty in up scaling from cell to large area
modules.
An emerging application of PV is in concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) systems. CPV
technologies are gaining in popularity as they offer several advantages over established PV
technologies. CPV make use of relatively inexpensive optical devices, such as lenses or
mirrors to focus light from an aperture onto a smaller active area of solar cell. In doing so,
light is ‘concentrated’ to higher intensities than ordinary sunlight, and less PV cell material
is required for a given output. This brings several benefits: the total cost of the system can be
reduced; higher system efficiencies are possible due to the increased solar flux intensities;
higher efficiency cells can be used without incurring great cost; and demand for

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 205

semiconductor materials can be reduced, thereby easing supply restrictions on these

materials and facilitating reductions in market price. The target installation locations for
CPV are predominantly in the world’s sunbelts. This is because CPV systems utilize the
direct normal irradiation (DNI) component of sunlight, which makes areas with high annual
irradiance such as southern US states, Australia, the Middle East, North Africa and
Mediterranean regions the prime target areas for this technology. Today a worldwide total
of approximately 35 MW of CPV have been installed. Recent activity, particularly in the US
market, has resulted in a rapid increase in projected installed capacity, which will total
approximately 400 MW worldwide by the end of 2012 (Greentechmedia [GTM], 2011).
Although CPV offers a promising route to lower solar electricity prices, it remains a strong
technical challenge. In the last few years, the dramatic fall in the cost of conventional flat-
plate PV systems has raised the bar on entry into the energy market for CPV. Systems
operating above 5-fold concentration require some form of solar tracking, and most CPV
systems require highly accurate tracking, which contributes significantly to the cost of the
system, and reduces performance reliability. Also, as of yet there is little long-term
experience of large CPV installations in operation and therefore the cost of electricity
produced over the system lifetime is hard to predict. A number of CPV manufacturers are
aiming to increase their competitiveness by setting a system efficiency of 30 % as a milestone
to break into the solar power market, and the present trajectory of CPV cell efficiencies
makes this increasingly feasible in the near future.
Table 1 summarizes the key characteristics of typical commercial PV modules.

Technology Material Area (m2) Efficiency (%) Surface area for 1 kWp
thickness (μm) system (m2)
Mono-c-Si 200 1.4 - 1.7 (typical) 14 - 20 ~7
Multi-c-Si 160 1.4 - 1.7 (typical) 11 - 15 ~8
2.5 (up to)
a-Si 1 ~1.5 4-8 ~15
a-Si/μc-Si 2 ~1.4 7-9 ~12
CdTe ~1 - 3 ~0.6 - 1 10 - 11 ~10
CIGS ~2 ~0.6 - 1 7 - 12 ~10
Table 1. Typical commercial PV module characteristics.
Costs decrease with volume of production and prices for large systems decreased as low as
2.5 €/Wp in some countries in 2010 (EPIA, 2010), while the cost of producing electricity
using PV has dropped reaching an average generation cost of 15 c€/kWh in the southern
parts of the EU (EPIA & Greenpeace, 2011), demonstrating clearly that PV electricity
production has already reached grid-parity in some parts of the world such as southern
Europe.

3. Photovoltaic performance parameters

An essential requirement in the deployment of the different existing and emerging PV
technologies is the understanding of the performance exhibited by each technology, once
installed outdoors. In particular, such information is necessary because the outdoor PV
electrical characteristics are different from the reference STC characteristics described in

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206 Third Generation Photovoltaics

manufacturer data-sheets. In this section an overview of the main outdoor performance

evaluation parameters is presented and the effects of different environmental and
operational factors such as solar irradiance, temperature, spectrum and degradation on PV
operation and behavior are described.

3.1 Outdoor evaluated performance parameters

In general, PV manufacturers provide information about the electrical characteristics of
modules at STC. Specifically, such information includes the open circuit voltage, VOC, short
circuit current, ISC, MPP voltage, VMPP, current IMPP, power, PMPP, efficiency, η, and
temperature coefficients. As STC conditions rarely occur outdoors, these parameters are not
sufficient to predict PV operation under outdoor conditions and hence the need for
independent outdoor assessment of different technologies is pressing.
The main outdoor evaluated PV performance parameters include the energy yield, the
outdoor efficiency and performance ratio (PR). More specifically, for grid-connected PV
systems the most important parameter is the energy yield, which is closely associated with
cost evaluations. In particular, the payback of a PV system and the level of investment are
associated with the energy production and the feed-in-tariff scheme in place. The
normalized PV system energy yield, Yf (kWh/kWp), is defined as the total energy produced
by a PV system during a period with the dc energy yield, Edc (kWh), further normalized to
the nameplate manufacturer dc power, P0 (kWp), to allow for comparison between the
different installed PV technologies (Marion et.al, 2005). The final yield, Yf, is given by:

Edc
Yf  (1)
P0
Furthermore, important performance aspects are obtained by the evaluation of the outdoor
efficiency, η (%), and PR (%), for each of the PV technologies installed. The efficiency is
given by:

Edc
 (2)
HA
where H (kWh/m2) is the total plane of array irradiation and A (m2) is the area of the PV
array. From the above parameters the PR is calculated and used as a useful way of
quantifying the overall effect of losses due to PV module temperature, spectrum, module
mismatch and other losses such as optical reflection, soiling and downtime failures. The dc
PR, PRdc, is defined as the ratio between the real dc energy production, Ereal (kWh), and the
dc energy the PV array would produce, if it had no losses at STC, ESTC (kWh), (Zinsser et al.,
2007) and is given by:

Ereal Edc
PRdc   (3)
ESTC H  A  STC
where ηSTC (%) is the PV module efficiency at STC.

3.2 Environmental and operational performance effects

In the following section, a survey of previous studies on the environmental and operational
effects on the performance of the above-mentioned PV technologies is given. In particular,
the investigation summarizes the main findings of the effects of solar irradiance, ambient

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 207

temperature and spectrum on the performance of c-Si and thin-film technologies. In

addition, findings relating to the degradation of each technology are also listed.

3.2.1 Solar irradiance effects

The most important environmental parameter influencing the operation of PV technologies
is the irradiance. The operating voltage of a PV device has a logarithmic dependence on
irradiance while the current is linearly dependent. Many previous studies have shown that
at low irradiance levels there is a decrease in efficiency and performance that also depends
on the technology (Biicher, 1997; Paretta et al., 1998; Schumann, 2009; Suzuki et al., 2002;
Zinsser et al., 2009).
In this section the effect of solar irradiance on the performance of PV technologies is
presented along with a discussion of previously conducted indoor and outdoor
investigations. The main difficulties in the assessment of solar irradiance effects arise from
the fact that the irradiance is associated with other factors that also affect the performance of
PV. These factors include clear sky or diffuse irradiance due to cloudy conditions, low
irradiance due to early morning or late afternoon (high AM), spectral and angle of incidence
(AOI) effects. In general, the effect of solar irradiance levels on PV performance has been
investigated by employing indoor controlled methods. These offer the advantage that other
effects such as AOI, spectrum and temperature can be controlled and excluded from the
investigation. A common approach used is the acquisition of the current-voltage (I-V)
curves at the cell or module level using solar flash simulators, which allow the evaluation
and comparison of the efficiency at different specified irradiance levels indoors (Bunea et al.,
2006; Reich et al., 2009).
Similarly, the effects of solar irradiance have been investigated in outdoor evaluations by
first acquiring I-V curves at again cell or module level and secondly correcting the acquired
data-sets to STC temperature, by using measured or manufacturer temperature coefficients
(Merten & Andreu, 1998; Paretta et al., 1998). To minimize AOI effects, the PV devices are
usually mounted on trackers while to minimize spectral effects, the investigations are
usually carried out under clear sky conditions. From the acquired and corrected I-V curves
the efficiency at different irradiance levels can also be evaluated and compared.
For some commercial PV technologies, the output power follows closely the irradiation level
while for many commercial modules the efficiency was found to decrease by 55 – 90 % from
its STC value, at irradiance levels below 200 W/m2 (Biicher, 1997). The behavior of PV
technologies at different irradiance levels has been associated with the series and shunt
resistance as at high solar irradiance, high series resistance reduces the fill factor (FF) while
at low solar irradiance, FF reduction occurs due to low shunt resistance (Randall & Jacot,
2003). Other investigations have further demonstrated that series resistance losses are
mainly responsible for the reduction in the FF for intensities of 60 % of one sun or greater
(del Cueto, 1998).
Both mono-c-Si and multi-c-Si technologies exhibit almost constant efficiencies in the
irradiance range of 100 - 1000 W/m2 with mono-c-Si found to outperform multi-c-Si in an
investigation performed on commercial PV cells (Reich et al., 2009). In addition, some c-Si
cells were found to have higher efficiencies at irradiance intensities in the range 100 -
1000 W/m2 than at STC and this is attributed to series resistance effects, as a lower current
leads to quadratically lower series resistance loss (Reich et al., 2009). For c-Si technologies
the efficiency decreases logarithmically in the lower irradiance range of 1 - 100 W/m2 as the

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208 Third Generation Photovoltaics

open circuit voltage, VOC, depends logarithmically on the short circuit current ISC.
Subsequently, previous work describing the low light performance based on the evaluated
FF has shown that for c-Si and CIS, the FF remains approximately constant for irradiance
levels above 200 W/m² while at lower irradiance levels the FF decreases (Mohring &
Stellbogen, 2008). Furthermore, CdTe thin-film technology has been reported as having a
relatively good low irradiance performance (Heesen et al., 2010;) and specifically to exhibit
significant performance increase at medium irradiance levels due to the relatively high
series resistance of CdTe devices (Mohring & Stellbogen, 2008). On the other hand, a-Si
technology shows a constant FF over the entire range and even below 200 W/m² and this
further implies a superior performance for sites with high diffuse light conditions (Mohring
& Stellbogen, 2008). For the side-by-side irradiance dependence comparison performed for
different commercial PV technologies in Nicosia, Cyprus, the a-Si and CdTe technologies
have exhibited higher relative efficiencies at low light (Zinsser et al., 2009).
Because of the importance of this effect it would be very useful if all manufacturers
provided, as part of their data-sheet information, the efficiencies at different irradiance
levels.

3.2.2 Thermal effects

PV technologies that operate in warm climates experience module temperatures
significantly above 25 °C and this is a very important performance loss factor. The
parameters which describe the behavior of the electrical characteristics of PV with the
operating temperature and hence the thermal effects, are the temperature coefficients (King
et al., 1997; Makrides et al., 2009). Another important thermal parameter that describes the
temperature of a PV module is the nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT), which is
provided by PV manufacturers as an indication of how module temperature is affected by
the solar irradiation, ambient temperature and thermal properties of the PV material.
Temperature coefficients of PV devices are usually evaluated using indoor laboratory
techniques. A commonly used methodology is to illuminate a PV cell or module that is
placed on a temperature controlled structure. Accordingly, the I-V curves of the device are
acquired over a range of different cell temperatures but at controlled STC irradiance and
AM. The rate of change of either the voltage, current or power with temperature is then
calculated and provides the value of the temperature coefficients (King et al., 1997).
In addition, a useful technique to obtain the temperature coefficients under real operating
conditions is to employ outdoor field test measurements. In outdoor investigations the PV
devices are first shaded to lower the temperature close to ambient conditions and as soon as
the device is uncovered and left to increase in temperature, several I-V curves are acquired
at different temperatures (Akhmad et al., 1997; King et al, 1997; Makrides et al., 2009;
Sutterlüti et al., 2009). As in indoor investigations, the rate of change of the investigated
parameter against temperature provides the temperature coefficient. Both techniques are
used by manufacturers and professionals within the field. Previous studies have shown that
the power of c-Si PV modules decreases by approximately -0.45 %/K (Virtuani et al. 2010;
Makrides et al., 2009). On the other hand, thin-film technologies of CdTe and CIGS show
lower power temperature coefficients compared to c-Si technologies and in the case of CdTe
modules the measured temperature coefficient is around -0.25 %/K (Dittmann et al., 2010).
In addition, a-Si shows the lowest power temperature coefficient of up to approximately -
0.20 %/K (Hegedus, 2006) while numerous studies have further shown that high module

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 209

operating temperatures improve the performance of stabilized a-Si modules due to thermal
annealing (Dimitrova et al., 2010; King et al., 2000; Ransome & Wohlgemuth, 2000). The
thermal behavior of a-Si suggests that a unique temperature coefficient as in the case of
other PV technologies cannot characterize completely the temperature behavior of this
technology (Carlson et al., 2000). In general, the output power and performance of CdTe and
a-Si modules is less temperature sensitive than CIS and c-Si technologies. Table 2
summarizes the MPP power, PMPP, temperature coefficients of commercial PV technologies.

Technology Approximate MPP power temperature coefficient, PMPP (%/K)

Mono-c-Si -0.40
Multi-c-Si -0.45
a-Si -0.20
a-Si/μc-Si -0.26
CIGS -0.36
CdTe -0.25
Table 2. Typical power temperature coefficients for different technologies.

3.2.3 Spectral effects

PV devices are affected by the change and variation of the solar spectrum. In practice, the
power produced by a PV cell or module can be calculated by integrating the product of the
spectral response and the spectrum, at a given temperature and irradiance level, over the
incident light wavelength range (Huld et al., 2009). The effect of spectrum is a technology
dependent parameter as some technologies are affected more by spectral variations than
others (King et al., 1997).
The spectral response of PV technologies is usually known but as the spectral irradiance at
different installation locations is unknown, the spectral losses can be difficult to evaluate
(Huld et al., 2009). The spectral content of a location is affected by several factors such as the
AM, water vapor, clouds, aerosol particle size distribution, particulate matter and ground
reflectance (Myers et al., 2002). In clear-sky conditions the spectrum can be described as a
function of air mass and relative humidity (Gueymard et al., 2002). In cloudy weather the
spectral effects are more complex and in general the light under these conditions is stronger
in the blue region of the spectrum than the standard AM 1.5 spectrum. Conversely, the blue
region of the spectrum is attenuated as the sun moves lower in the sky (Huld et al., 2009).
A number of studies have been performed both indoors and outdoors to investigate spectral
effects (Gottschalg et al., 2007; Merten & Andreu, 1998; Zanesco & Krenziger, 1993). The
spectral response of PV cells and modules can be determined indoors using specialized
equipment such as solar simulators and special filters at controlled irradiance and
temperature conditions (Cannon et al., 1993; Virtuani et al., 2011). In outdoor investigations
the spectral behavior of PV devices is usually found by mounting the PV device on a tracker
and acquiring measurements of the short circuit current or I-V curves in conjunction with
measurements acquired using a pyranometer and a spectroradiometer (King et al., 1997).
The effect of the spectrum has been further described in different ways. Several authors
have presented spectral effects by calculating the fraction of the solar irradiation that is
usable by each PV technology (Gottschalg et al., 2003). Others have included the average
photon energy (APE) parameter, even though this requires knowledge of the spectrum
under varying conditions (Gottschalg et al., 2005; Norton et al., 2011). Empirical models

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210 Third Generation Photovoltaics

have also been considered to account for the influence of the solar spectrum on the short
circuit current (Huld et al., 2009).
Technologies of c-Si and CIGS have a wide spectral response and this allows a large spectral
absorption. In the case of c-Si technologies an increase in efficiency at high AM and clear sky
conditions has been reported (King et al., 2004; Zdanowicz et al., 2003), while other
investigations performed on c-Si modules mounted on a tracker under clear sky conditions
showed a slight decrease in performance with increasing AM (Kenny et al., 2006). CdTe and
a-Si technologies have a narrower spectral response which ranges approximately between
350 - 800 nm and this leads to lower photon absorption. Modules of a-Si have shown higher
energy yield compared to c-Si for diffuse light irradiation and high sun elevation angles
(Grunow et al., 2009).
Specifically, in a previous study in Japan, the ratio of spectral solar irradiation available for
solar cell utilization to global solar irradiation, was found to vary from 5 % for multi-c-Si
cells, to 14 % for a-Si cells, throughout a year (Hirata & Tani, 1995). In addition, the
experimental results of a study carried out in the UK, showed that on an annual basis, the
usable spectral fraction of solar irradiation for a-Si varied from +6 % to -9 % with respect to
the annual average, while for CdTe and CIGS it varied in the range of +4 % to -6 % and ±1.5
% (Gottschalg et al, 2003). Spectral effects on PV performance are therefore important
depending on the location, climatic conditions and spectral sensitivity of each technology.

3.2.4 PV degradation
The performance of PV modules varies according to the climatic conditions and gradually
deteriorates through the years (Adelstein & Sekulic, 2005; Cereghetti et al., 2003; Dunlop,
2005; Osterwald et al., 2006; Sanchez-Friera et al., 2011; Som & Al-Alawi, 1992). An
important factor in the performance of PV technologies has always been their long-term
reliability especially for the new emerging technologies. The most important issue in long-
term performance assessments is degradation which is the outcome of a power or
performance loss progression dependent on a number of factors such as degradation at the
cell, module or even system level. In almost all cases the main environmental factors related
to known degradation mechanisms include temperature, humidity, water ingress and ultra-
violet (UV) intensity. All these factors impose significant stress, over the lifetime of a PV
device and as a result detailed understanding of the relation between external factors,
stability issues and module degradation is necessary. In general, degradation mechanisms
describe the effects from both physical mechanisms and chemical reactions and can occur at
both PV cell, module and system level.
More specifically, the degradation mechanisms at the cell level include gradual performance
loss due to ageing of the material and loss of adhesion of the contacts or corrosion, which is
usually the result of water vapor ingress. Other degradation mechanisms include metal
mitigation through the p-n junction and antireflection coating deterioration. All the above-
mentioned degradation mechanisms have been obtained from previous experience on c-Si
technologies (Dunlop, 2005; Quintana et al., 2002; Som & Al-Alawi, 1992).
In the case of a-Si cells an important degradation mechanism occurs when this technology is
first exposed to sunlight as the power stabilizes at a level that is approximately 70 - 80 % of
the initial power. This degradation mechanism is known as the Staebler-Wronski effect
(Staebler & Wronski, 1977) and is attributed to recombination-induced breaking of weak Si-
Si bonds by optically excited carriers after thermalization, producing defects that decrease
carrier lifetime (Stutzmann et al., 1985).

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 211

Other degradation mechanisms have also been observed for thin-film technologies of CdTe
and CIGS at the cell level. For CdTe technologies the effects of cell degradation can vary
with the properties of the cell and also with the applied stress factors. More specifically, in
CdTe technologies as the p-type CdTe cannot be ohmically contacted with a metal, most
devices use copper to dope the CdTe surface before contacting (Chin et al., 2010; Dobson et
al., 2000). Copper inclusion may cause dramatic changes in the electrical properties of the
CdTe thin-film (Chin et al., 2010). As copper is very mobile it can diffuse along grain
boundaries of the CdTe cell and result in a recombination center situated close to the p-n
junction. Very low levels of copper reduce the conductivity of CdTe and it is possible that
the diffusion of copper can transform the back contact to non-ohmic. Another effect
associated with CdTe degradation is due to the applied voltage either arising from the cell
or the external voltage, which as a result of the electric field it can force copper ions towards
the front contact. It was previously found that open-circuit conditions affected cell
degradation during accelerated ageing for different CdTe cell types (Powell et al., 1996). In
addition, impurity diffusion and changes in doping profiles may affect device stability
(Batzner et al., 2004; Degrave et al., 2001), but the industry has resolved this problem by
using special alloys.
CIGS has a flexible structure that enhances its tolerance to chemical changes and because of
this it has been previously argued that copper atoms do not pose stability problems for
CIGS cells (Guillemoles et al., 2000). Damp heat tests performed on unencapsulated CIGS
cells have indicated that humidity degrades cell performance and is more obvious as VOC
and FF degradation due to the increased concentration of deep acceptor states in the CIGS
absorber (Schmidt et al., 2000). Other important factors include donor-type defects (Igalson
et al., 2002) and the influence of Ga-content on cell stability (Malmström et al., 2003).
At the module level, degradation occurs due to failure mechanisms of the cell and in
addition, due to degradation of the packaging materials, interconnects, cell cracking,
manufacturing defects, bypass diode failures, encapsulant failures and delamination (King
et al., 1997; Pern at al., 1991; Wenham et al., 2007).
At the system level, degradation includes all cell and module degradation mechanisms and
is further caused by module interconnects and inverter degradation. Table 3 summarizes the
main thin-film failure modes and failure mechanisms (McMahon, 2004).
Indoor degradation investigations are mainly performed at the module level as the
interconnection and addition of other materials to form a modular structure increases
stability issues. In particular, accelerated ageing tests performed indoors and under
controlled conditions can provide information about different degradation mechanisms.
Degradation investigations using indoor methodologies are based on the acquisition of I-V
curves and power at STC. The electrical characteristics of PV modules are initially measured
at STC and then the modules are either exposed outdoors or indoors through accelerated
procedures (Carr & Pryor, 2004; Meyer & van Dyk, 2004; Osterwald et al., 2002). For each
investigated PV cell or module the electrical characteristics are regularly acquired using the
solar simulator and the current, voltage or power differences from the initial value provide
indications of the degradation rates at successive time periods.
In addition, many groups have performed outdoor monitoring of individual PV modules
through the acquisition and comparison of I–V curves, as the modules are exposed to real
outdoor conditions (Akhmad et al., 1997; Ikisawa et al., 1998; King et al., 2000). Another
method to investigate degradation outdoors has been based on power and energy yield
measurements of PV systems subjected to actual operating conditions. A common approach

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212 Third Generation Photovoltaics

has been to first establish time series usually on a monthly basis, of either the PR or the
maximum power normalised to Photovoltaics for Utility Scale Applications (PVUSA) Test
Conditions (PTC) of solar irradiance 1000 W/m2, air temperature of 20 °C and wind speed of
1 m/s. Time series analysis such as linear regression, classical series decomposition (CSD)
and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) is then used to obtain the trend
and hence the degradation rate (Jordan & Kurtz, 2010; Osterwald et al., 2002). Outdoor field
tests are very important in exploring the degradation mechanisms under real conditions.
These mechanisms cannot otherwise be revealed from indoor stability tests. The outcome of
such outdoor investigations can provide useful feedback to improve the stability, enhance
the understanding of the different technology dependent degradation mechanisms and can
be used as tools for the adaptation of accelerated ageing tests so as to suit the degradation
mechanisms for each technology.

Table 3. Thin-film failure modes and failure mechanisms (McMahon, 2004).

For both indoor and outdoor evaluations a variety of degradation rates have been reported
and a survey of the results of degradation studies is given below. A recent study has shown
that on average the historically reported degradation rates of different PV technologies was
0.7 %/year while the reported median was 0.5 %/year (Jordan et al., 2010). More
specifically, investigations performed on outdoor exposed mono and multi-c-Si PV modules

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 213

showed performance losses of approximately 0.7 %/year (Osterwald et al., 2002). Results of
field tests have generally shown stable performance for CdTe devices (del Cueto, 1998; Mrig
& Rummel, 1990; Ullal et al., 1997), although field results are limited for modules utilizing
new cell structures (Carlsson & Brinkman, 2006). Previous studies performed on thin-film
CIS modules, showed that after outdoor exposure the efficiency was found to decrease (Lam
et al., 2004) and to exhibit either moderate, in the range of 2 - 4 %/year, to negligible or less
than 1 %/year degradation rates due to increases in the series resistance in some of the
modules (del Cueto et al., 2008).
Evaluations based on monthly PR and PVUSA values revealed degradation rates, for the
PR investigation, of 1.5 %/year for a-Si, 1.2 %/year for CdTe and 0.9 %/year for mono-c-
Si (Marion et al., 2005). The results were slightly different for the PVUSA investigation
which showed a degradation rate of 1.1 %/year for the a-Si, 1.4%/year for the CdTe and
1.3 %/year for the mono-c-Si (Marion et al., 2005). Based on linear fits applied to the
PVUSA power rating curves over the six year time period for a thin-film a-Si system,
degradation rates of 0.98 %/year at the dc side and 1.09 %/year at the ac side of the
system were obtained while the same investigation on PR data-sets indicated a similar
degradation rate of 1.13 %/year at the ac side (Adelstein & Sekulic, 2005). Additionally, in
a recent long-term performance assessment of a-Si tandem cell technologies in Germany it
was demonstrated that an initial two year stabilization phase occurred and was then
followed by a stable phase with a minor power decrease of maximum 0.2 %/year
(Lechner et al., 2010). In a different study it was reported that thin-film modules showed
somewhat higher than 1 %/year degradation rates (Osterwald et al., 2006). On the other
hand, an important consideration in relation to thin-film degradation rate investigations
was found to be the date of installation of the modules as it appeared that in the case of
CdTe and CIGS modules manufactured after 2000 exhibited improved stability relative to
older designs (Jordan et al., 2010).

4. Performance assessment of different PV technologies under outdoor

conditions
In the previous section a general description of the main outdoor evaluation performance
parameters and the effects of different environmental and operational parameters was
given. In the following section, a discussion on the work carried out at the outdoor test
facility in Cyprus, related to the performance assessment of different installed PV
technologies is presented. An infrastructure was set up for continuous and simultaneous
monitoring of a number of PV systems (together with weather and irradiation data) and to
thereby assess their performance under the exact same field conditions. The knowledge
acquired from the field testing, described in this section, is important to enhance the
understanding of the underlying loss processes and to optimise the systems performance.
Furthermore, it is essential to continue testing as the current PV technologies become more
mature and new technologies are entering the market. The same infrastructure installed in
Cyprus was also replicated in two other locations for the scope of investigating the
performance of different PV technologies under different climatic conditions. The three
selected locations include the Institut für Physikalische Elektronik (ipe) University of
Stuttgart, Germany, the University of Cyprus (UCY), Nicosia, Cyprus and the German
University in Cairo (GUC) Cairo, Egypt.

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214 Third Generation Photovoltaics

4.1 PV test facility description

The outdoor test facility at the University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus was commissioned in
May 2006 and includes, amongst others, 12 grid-connected PV systems of different
technologies. The fixed-plane PV systems installed range from mono-c-Si and multi-c-Si,
Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HIT), Edge defined Film-fed Growth (EFG), Multi-
crystalline Advanced Industrial cells (MAIN) to a-Si, CdTe, CIGS and other PV technologies.
Table 4 provides a brief description of the installed systems (Makrides et al., 2010).

Rated
module
Manufacturer Module type Technology efficiency
(%)

Atersa A-170M 24V Mono-c-Si 12.9

BP Solar BP7185S Mono-c-Si (Saturn-cell) 14.8
Sanyo HIP-205NHE1 Mono-c-Si (HIT-cell) 16.4
Suntechnics STM 200 FW Mono-c-Si (back contact- 16.1
cell)
Schott Solar ASE-165-GT- Multi-c-Si (MAIN-cell) 13.0
FT/MC
Schott Solar ASE-260-DG-FT Multi-c-Si (EFG) 11.7
SolarWorld SW165 poly Multi-c-Si 12.7
Solon P220/6+ Multi-c-Si 13.4
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MA100T2 a-Si (single cell) 6.4
(MHI)
Schott Solar ASIOPAK-30-SG a-Si (tandem cell) 5.4
First Solar FS60 CdTe 8.3
Würth WS 11007/75 CIGS 10.3
Table 4. Installed PV types of modules.
The monitoring of the PV systems started at the beginning of June 2006 and both
meteorological and PV system measurements are being acquired and stored through an
advanced measurement platform. The platform comprises meteorological and electrical
sensors connected to a central data logging system that stores data at a resolution of one
measurement per second. The monitored meteorological parameters include the total
irradiance in the POA, wind direction and speed as well as ambient and module
temperature. The electrical parameters measured include dc current and voltage, dc and ac
power at MPP as obtained at each PV system output (Makrides et al., 2009).

4.2 PV performance evaluation

The weather conditions recorded over the evaluation period in Cyprus showed that there is
a high solar resource and exposure to warm conditions. The annual solar irradiation, over
the period June 2006 - June 2010 is summarised in Table 5.

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 215

Period Solar Irradiation (kWh/m2)

June 2006 - June 2007 1988
June 2007 - June 2008 2054
June 2008 - June 2009 1997
June 2009 - June 2010 2006
Table 5. Solar irradiation over the period June 2006 - June 2010 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
A detailed analysis of the prevailing climatic conditions was performed on the acquired 15-
minute average measurements, in order to obtain the fraction of solar irradiation in Cyprus,
the average ambient air temperature and PV operating temperature at different solar
irradiance levels over the four-year evaluation period. Table 6 shows the results of the
average ambient and PV module temperature (Atersa mono-c-Si fixed-plane module
temperatures presented) at different solar irradiation levels over the first, second, third and
fourth year respectively. The results indicate that the PV module operating temperatures
increased above the STC temperature of 25 °C at POA solar irradiance over 201 W/m2.
During the first three years, the highest amount of solar irradiation occurred within the
range 801 - 900 W/m2 while in the fourth year within the range 901 - 1000 W/m2.

Solar Irradiance Total irradiation fraction Ambient temperature PV module temperature

(W/m”) (%) (°C) (°C)
2006- 2007- 2008- 2009- 2006- 2007- 2008- 2009- 2006- 2007- 2008- 2009-
2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010
0 - 100 2.0 1.8 1.9 2.0 15.4 16.2 16.4 16.9 14.7 15.4 15.8 16.3
101 - 200 2.8 2.4 2.6 2.7 20.2 21.0 20.3 20.1 24.1 24.6 24.0 23.9
201 - 300 4.1 4.0 4.3 4.2 21.5 22.3 22.1 22.6 27.3 27.8 27.9 28.5
301 - 400 5.3 5.1 5.8 5.6 22.3 23.3 23.0 23.4 30.7 31.4 31.4 31.8
401 - 500 7.0 7.3 7.4 7.0 22.9 23.6 23.5 23.7 33.5 34.0 34.4 34.6
501 - 600 9.7 10.0 9.5 9.2 23.4 23.7 23.9 24.5 36.8 37.0 37.4 38.1
601 - 700 12.9 13.3 12.0 11.6 24.7 24.6 25.1 25.4 41.3 40.8 41.4 41.6
701 - 800 16.9 18.1 15.7 14.5 25.7 25.5 25.9 25.9 45.2 44.3 44.9 44.8
801 - 900 20.9 21.4 20.0 18.0 26.4 28.2 27.2 27.5 48.1 49.7 48.8 48.6
901 - 1000 15.8 14.3 15.9 21.2 27.2 29.0 29.0 30.2 50.4 51.6 52.0 53.5
1001 - 1100 2.5 2.2 4.4 3.8 23.3 23.6 23.0 26.1 47.3 46.7 46.5 50.2
> 1101 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.1 24.7 24.0 20.1 17.5 47.2 51.9 46.0 40.2
Table 6. Solar irradiation fraction, average ambient and module temperature (Atersa mono-
c-Si) at different irradiance levels, over the period June 2006 - June 2010 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
During the first year of operation the fixed-plane PV systems showed an average annual dc
energy yield of 1738 kWh/kWp while during the second year of operation and for the same
systems the average dc energy yield was 1769 kWh/kWp, showing an increase of 1.8 % in
comparison to the first year. The average dc energy yield was lower during the third and
fourth year with 1680 kWh/kWp and 1658 kWh/kWp respectively. The annual dc energy
yield normalized to the manufacturer’s rated power over the period June 2006 - June 2010 in
Nicosia, Cyprus is shown in Table 7. It must be noted that partial shading affected the BP
Solar mono-c-Si and Solon multi-c-Si systems specifically during the second, third and
fourth year while the Schott Solar a-Si system had a broken module since October 2006.

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216 Third Generation Photovoltaics

Normalized DC Energy Yield (kWh/kWp)

System
2006 - 2007 2007 - 2008 2008 - 2009 2009 - 2010
Atersa (A-170M 24V) 1753 1810 1744 1719

BP Solar (BP7185S) 1612 1593 1457 1510

Sanyo (HIP-205NHE1) 1790 1814 1731 1703

Suntechnics
1864 1890 1800 1793
(STM 200 FW)
Schott Solar
1752 1810 1736 1712
(ASE-165-GT-FT/MC)
Schott Solar
1721 1783 1714 1688
(ASE-260-DG-FT)
SolarWorld (SW165) 1731 1772 1689 1654

Solon (P220/6+) 1715 1761 1681 1637

MHI (MA100T2) 1734 1734 1644 1617

Schott Solar
1599 1650 1571 1554
(ASIOPAK-30-SG)
Würth (WS 11007/75) 1827 1863 1748 1707

First Solar (FS60) 1755 1752 1645 1605

Table 7. Annual dc energy yield normalized to the manufacturer’s rated power over the
period June 2006 - June 2010 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
During the first year of operation the best performing technologies in Nicosia, based on the
annual dc energy yield, were the Suntechnics mono-c-Si, the Würth CIGS, the Sanyo HIT
mono-c-Si and the First Solar CdTe. During the second year the mono-c-Si technologies of
Sanyo, Suntechnics and the CIGS retained their high energy yield. During the third year the
highest energy yield was produced by the Suntechinics mono-c-Si, Würth CIGS and Atersa
mono-c-Si system. During the fourth year the first three technologies which produced the
highest yield were entirely c-Si, the Suntechnics, Atersa mono-c-Si and the Schott Solar
(MAIN) multi-c-Si while the Würth CIGS system followed.
The comparison of the annual dc energy yield produced by the same technology modules,
Atersa mono-c-Si fixed-plane, installed in the POA of 27.5° and also mounted on a two-axis
tracker is shown in figure 1. Over a four-year period, the tracker provided on average 21 %
higher energy yield compared to the fixed-plane system. During the first year, the solar
irradiation collected by the reference cell installed at the tracker was 2532 kWh/m2 while
during the second year it was 2606 kWh/m2 (Makrides et al., 2010). Subsequently, during
the third and fourth year the solar irradiation collected by the tracker was 2510 kWh/m2 and
2483 kWh/m2 respectively.

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 217

2800
Atersa mono-c-Si (Tracker)
Atersa mono-c-Si (POA)
2400
DC energy yield (kWh/kW p)

2000

1600

1200

800

400

0
07

08

09

10
20

20

20

20
-

-
06

07

08

09
20

20

20

20

Fig. 1. Comparison of the annual dc energy yield of the tracker and fixed-plane Atersa
mono-c-Si systems over the period June 2006 - June 2010.
Table 8 shows the annual ac energy yield normalized to the manufacturer’s rated power.

Normalized AC Energy Yield (kWh/kWp)

System
2006 - 2007 2007 - 2008 2008 - 2009 2009 - 2010
Atersa (A-170M 24V) 1593 1646 1583 1564
BP Solar (BP7185S) 1463 1445 1320 1370
Sanyo (HIP-205NHE1) 1630 1659 1581 1555
Suntechnics (STM 200
FW) 1692 1717 1641 1638
Schott Solar (ASE-165-
GT-FT/MC) 1588 1642 1575 1552
Schott Solar (ASE-260-
DG-FT) 1562 1620 1554 1532
SolarWorld (SW165) 1573 1613 1535 1500
Solon (P220/6+) 1567 1609 1533 1495
MHI (MA100T2) 1573 1575 1495 1466
Schott Solar (ASIOPAK-
30-SG) 1462 1506 1433 1419
Würth (WS 11007/75) 1653 1691 1581 1543
First Solar (FS60) 1599 1600 1500 1461
Table 8. Annual ac energy yield normalized to the manufacturer’s rated power over the
period June 2006 - June 2010 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

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218 Third Generation Photovoltaics

4.3 Effects of environmental and operational parameters on PV performance

In the following section, a summary of the investigations and outcomes related to the
seasonal performance and the effect of temperature, soiling and STC power normalization
on the performance assessment of the installed technologies in Cyprus is given.

4.3.1 PV seasonal performance evaluation using outdoor measurement analysis

In order to observe the effects of environmental conditions on the outdoor performance of
the installed PV technologies, a seasonal performance investigation was carried out.
Specifically, a time series was constructed of the monthly average dc PR over the four-year
evaluation period. The plots in figure 2 depict the constructed monthly average dc PR time
series of all the PV technologies. It is evident from the plots that all technologies exhibit a
seasonal behavior with peaks according to the seasons and with progressive performance
loss that is more evident in some technologies than others. Both mono-c-Si and multi-c-Si
technologies exhibited PR peaks during the cold winter season and performance decrease
during the warm summer months as depicted in figures 2a and 2b respectively. The
Suntechnics mono-c-Si exhibited high monthly PR that approached the optimum (PR of 100
%) during the winter seasons and in one case, December 2006, this value was even exceeded.
This can occur because of the associated power rating and irradiation uncertainties that are
present also in the calculated monthly PR value. From the PR plot of figure 2c of the a-Si
technologies it was obvious that during the summer and early autumn, the performance
was higher than in the winter. In addition, the high initial monthly PR of the a-Si
technologies is primarily attributed to the fact that these technologies had not yet stabilized.
Accordingly, the same seasonal performance pattern as the one of c-Si technologies was
observed for the Würth CIGS and First Solar CdTe, shown in figure 2d. In the case of the
First Solar CdTe system a narrower peak-to-peak PR variation between the seasons was
observed compared to the c-Si and CIGS seasonal behavior.

4.3.2 Thermal effects

In countries such as Cyprus with a high solar resource and warm climate the extent to
which PV technologies are affected by temperature is an important criterion for their
selection. Investigations to evaluate the effect of temperature were performed based on an
indoor and outdoor procedure for the extraction of the MPP power temperature coefficients
of the installed technologies (Makrides et al., 2009).
For the outdoor procedure, the temperature coefficients at the MPP power were extracted
from a series of acquired I-V curve measurements over a range of temperatures (from
ambient to maximum module temperature during the period of outdoor measurements).
The outdoor investigation was performed during periods of the day with conditions of
stable sunshine and calm winds (lower than 2 m/s) around solar noon. All the PV systems
were equipped with back surface temperature sensors that were mounted at the centre of
each investigated module. At the same time, the MPP power temperature coefficients were
also calculated through a filtering and analysis technique (data-evaluated technique) on
acquired data over a period of a year. In this investigation 15-minute average data acquired
over a period of one year were used. The MPP power data-sets that occurred when the solar
irradiance was between 700 and 1100 W/m², were chosen in order to minimize the influence
of large AM in the morning and the evening. Figure 3 summarizes the measured, calculated
and manufacturer provided MPP power temperature coefficients obtained by both
techniques. For most PV technologies the outdoor evaluated results showed satisfactory
agreement when compared to manufacturer provided data.

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 219

100

80
Mono-c-Si
Atersa
BP Solar
60 Sanyo
Suntechnics (a)
100
0
DC performance ratio (%)

80
Multi-c-Si
Schott Solar (MAIN)
Schott Solar (EFG)
60 SolarWorld
Solon (b)
100
0

80

Thin-Film (a-Si)
60 MHI (a-Si)
Schott Solar (a-Si(2)) (c)
100
0

80

Thin-Film (CIGS and CdTe)

60 Wurth (CIGS)
First Solar (CdTe) (d)
0
D 08

D 09

0
Ju 7

D 07
M 07
Ju 8

Ju 9

M 09
D 06
M 06

M 08
Se 08

Se 09
Se 07
Se 06

-1
-0
-0

-0

p-

p-
p-

-
p-

-
n-

n-
n-
n-

ar
ec
ar

ar

ec
ec
ar

ec
Ju

Fig. 2. Monthly average dc PR of installed PV systems over the period June 2006 - June 2010
in Nicosia, Cyprus.

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220 Third Generation Photovoltaics

Fig. 3. Comparison of the MPP power temperature coefficients (γPMPP %/K) obtained by the
two methods outlined above (outdoor measurements and data analysis) and the
manufacturers’ data for the installed systems.

4.3.3 Soiling effects

Soiling describes the accumulation of dirt on the front surface of PV modules and is an
important loss factor particularly in locations when there is scarce rain, very dry conditions
and even frequent dust or sand storms. The power loss due to soiling is therefore a function
of the type of dust, the length of time since the last rainfall and the cleaning schedule
(Kymakis et al., 2009). In warm climates such as the one in Cyprus, soiling losses increase as
the periods between successive rainfalls increase and this is more noticeable during the
summer period.
In general, the standard industry assumption of soiling losses ranges from 1 - 4 % on an
annual basis (Detrick et al., 2005). In areas of frequent rainfall, it was demonstrated that the
rain could clean the PV modules to an extent of restoring the performance to within 1 % of
full power (Hammond et al., 1997). Accordingly, in a more recent soiling analysis performed
in Crete, with climatic conditions almost identical to Cyprus, the annual soiling loss was
5.86 %, with the winter losses being 4 - 5 % and 6 - 7 % in the summer (Kymakis et al., 2009).
A soiling investigation was carried out also for the systems installed in Egypt and
specifically by comparing the energy produced by a clean module, a module that has been
exposed to dust for a period of one year and a module that has been exposed to dust but
cleaned every two months. The energy production results showed that the ‘one year dusty

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 221

module’ produced 35 % lower energy while the ‘two month dusty module’ produced 25 %
lower energy compared to the clean module (Ibrahim et al., 2009). Figure 4 shows the soiling
accumulation after a period of one year for the systems installed in Egypt.

Fig. 4. Dust layer accumulation on PV modules in Egypt (Ibrahim et al., 2009).

4.3.4 Energy yield normalization to rated power and uncertainties

The tolerance of the rated power provided by manufacturers is another important factor that
affects the PV performance investigation as it increases the uncertainty of the results. In
general, the rated power value is associated with a typical tolerance of ±3 % for c-Si PV
modules, and ±5 % for thin-film modules. This uncertainty arises due to the power
mismatch of PV cells during module production and the sorting which is necessary so as to
avoid power mismatch at array wiring. Subsequently, manufacturers measure the power of
each produced module using a flasher and then sort the modules into power classes (Zinsser
et al., 2010). The uncertainty associated with the power rating is particularly important in
outdoor PV performance evaluations and comparisons as in the case of the normalized
annual energy yield (kWh/kWp) to the rated power (Zinsser et al., 2010).
By considering an uncertainty of ±3 % due to the STC power and a ±2 % due to the ac
energy measurement and acquisition, a difference of up to 10 % could arise for comparisons
between the annual yields of two PV systems at the same location. The high power rating
uncertainty value is a limiting factor in performance investigations as it is very difficult to
distinguish which of those systems performed better over a period of time. Figure 5 shows
the annual ac energy yield and associated power rating and measurement uncertainties over
the four-year period and the average energy yield of the flat plate systems.
The uncertainty makes it difficult to accurately distinguish which technology had produced
the highest energy. In addition, this uncertainty is also large enough to mask other lower-
order performance effects, such as degradation rate, spectral losses and other performance
loss factors. In the absence of the power rating uncertainty these effects would have been
important in the energy yield comparisons and the selection of the best performing
technology at a particular location. Therefore, there is a high need for low uncertainties in
the power tolerance of PV modules.

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222 Third Generation Photovoltaics

Fig. 5. Annual ac energy yield normalized to rated power over the period a) June 2006 - June
2007, b) June 2007 - June 2008, c) June 2008 - June 2009 and d) June 2009 - June 2010. The
error bars represent the associated power rating and measurement uncertainty.

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Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions 223

5. Conclusion
The emergence and continuous increase in deployment of different PV technologies such as
c-Si, thin-film and CPV, provide evidence that PV can become a leading energy source in the
future. The success of each technology depends mainly on the capability of meeting targets
such as the enhancement of manufacturing procedures while at the same time,
accomplishing efficiency increases and cost reductions.
With the vast variety of PV technologies present in the market, it is important to acquire
information about their outdoor performance. The main PV performance parameters
include the energy yield, the efficiency and PR. These parameters provide the basis of all
performance assessments and loss factor investigations. The main environmental factors
affecting PV performance include solar irradiance, ambient temperature and solar spectrum.
Another important factor for consideration is degradation. Good understanding of the
outdoor performance of different PV technologies is a key requirement for their successful
integration under different climatic conditions.
In addition to the review of several factors affecting PV performance, the main results of the
outdoor investigation carried out in Cyprus over a four-year period have been presented. In
particular, useful information on the performance of different PV technologies installed
side-by-side was obtained by investigating their seasonal performance and the effects of
temperature, soiling and power rating. The outcome of the outdoor performance assessment
also showed that these technologies have enormous potential in countries with high solar
resource.

6. Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank J. H. Werner and M. Schubert for their vision, continuous
support and encouragement. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of
the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
(BMU), which supported this work under contract No. 0327553. We also gratefully
acknowledge the support by the companies Atersa, First Solar GmbH, Phönix Sonnenstrom
AG, Q-cells AG, Schott Solar GmbH, SMA Technologies AG, SolarWorld AG, Solon AG and
Würth Solar GmbH & Co.KG. Finally the authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation.

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 Third Generation Photovoltaics
Edited by Dr. Vasilis Fthenakis

ISBN 978-953-51-0304-2
Hard cover, 232 pages
Publisher InTech
Published online 16, March, 2012
Published in print edition March, 2012

Photovoltaics have started replacing fossil fuels as major energy generation roadmaps, targeting higher
efficiencies and/or lower costs are aggressively pursued to bring PV to cost parity with grid electricity. Third
generation PV technologies may overcome the fundamental limitations of photon to electron conversion in
single-junction devices and, thus, improve both their efficiency and cost. This book presents notable advances
in these technologies, namely organic cells and nanostructures, dye-sensitized cells and multijunction III/V
cells. The following topics are addressed: Solar spectrum conversion for photovoltaics using nanoparticles;
multiscale modeling of heterojunctions in organic PV; technologies and manufacturing of OPV; life cycle
assessment of OPV; new materials and architectures for dye-sensitized solar cells; advances of concentrating
PV; modeling doped III/V alloys; polymeric films for lowering the cost of PV, and field performance factors. A
panel of acclaimed PV professionals contributed these topics, compiling the state of knowledge for advancing
this new generation of PV.

How to reference
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George Makrides, Bastian Zinsser, Matthew Norton and George E. Georghiou (2012). Performance of
Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions, Third Generation Photovoltaics, Dr. Vasilis Fthenakis (Ed.),
ISBN: 978-953-51-0304-2, InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/third-generation-
photovoltaics/performance-of-photovoltaics-under-actual-operating-conditions

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