ANNOUNCEMENTS
The rise in demand for installations of crystalline photovoltaics modules in harsh or extreme climatic condition as compared to standard test condition like India, requires determining the degradation rate as there is deviation from general trend of 20 % power degradation. It will helpful in assessing module lifetime and durability. Accelerated stress test is performed to copy similar characteristics that occur in exposure to environmental climatic zone (most useful once are UV precondition, thermal cycling, humidity freeze and damp heat). Most of the manufacturer is using IEC qualification test to determine pass/fail criteria for commercial operation. Studies and modelling will predict durability and reliability in all possible climates.
The modelling is done using 4 different degradation parameters like EVA, Corrosion, Solder joint and Delamination. Different case studies were used to determine the degradation values and their respective standard deviation for Indian climatic zones. Further for data validation part of the model output is compared with NISE survey report of India 2013. NISE has done survey of modules installed from 1998 to 2013. The model focus on crystalline technology only as the installation of crystalline technology is again capturing the solar market as compared to thin film technology. The major installation a cross global is owned by polycrystalline silicon followed by monocrystalline silicon as per 2010-year report.
India has five types of climatic condition. The major installation in India is seen in Hot and Humid followed by Hot and Dry and lastly in Composite climate. The average power degradation in composite climate is below 0.8% annually. The variation is seen in Hot and Dry and Hot and Humid. Thus, we have restricted our model to only two climatic zones. Location for hot and dry is Jaisalmer and Bikaner while location considered for hot and humid is Chennai and Bhogat.
