Impact of illumination and encapsulant resistivity on polarization-type potential-induced degradation on n-PERT cells

Power loss caused by polarization-type potential-induced degradation (PID-p) in a variety of high-performance photovoltaic cell types has been observed to be recoverable via subsequent illumination and in some cases preventable via simultaneous illumination. In this report, we describe the results o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Progress in photovoltaics 2021-12, Vol.30 (5)
Main Authors: Habersberger, Brian M., Hacke, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
modules
PERT
PID
potential-induced degradation
reliability
SOLAR ENERGY
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Summary:Power loss caused by polarization-type potential-induced degradation (PID-p) in a variety of high-performance photovoltaic cell types has been observed to be recoverable via subsequent illumination and in some cases preventable via simultaneous illumination. In this report, we describe the results of a study in which the front faces of n-PERT cells encapsulated in polymers with a broad range of electrical resistivity were exposed to varying and controlled irradiance during PID testing. For a low resistivity ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer encapsulant, no reduction in the rate or extent of power loss was observed for irradiance as high as 1,000 W/m2, whereas for high and intermediate resistivity polyolefin encapsulants, 100 and 300 W/m2, respectively, prevented power loss. We introduce a simple model based on charge accumulation that facilitates interpretation of these results whereby degradation via charge accumulation under voltage stress and recovery due to light exposure are opposing and interdependent phenomena that describe the susceptibility of a module to power loss.
ISSN:1062-7995
1099-159X