Progress in Solar Energy Technology and Applications

Umakanta Sahoo

• Publisher: Wiley-Scrivener
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119555605
• eBook ISBN: 9781119555681
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Energy

Energy is one of the most important topics of our time, and renewable energy has been a long and still-unfolding story that has taken decades to bring us to where we are today. Even after so much progress, engineers and scientists are always still developing new and innovative techniques, processes, equipment, and materials to further the science and fulfill the mission of generating cleaner, renewable energy for the world's consumption. This new groundbreaking series, Advances in Renewable Energy, covers these topics across the spectrum, including solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources.

This first volume in the series focuses on solar energy, probably the fastest-growing and developing area of renewable energy. With new materials and processes constantly coming online, it is important for engineers and scientists to stay abreast of the state-of-the-art in the field, and this volume does just that. Covering not just the basics of the technology and technological advances, the contributors delve into the financial aspects of solar energy systems as well. They look at total costs, not just initial costs, but the costs of maintenance, as well,

Covering nearly every aspect of solar energy systems and the latest advances in the field, this is a must-have volume for any engineer, scientist, student, or educator working in or studying solar energy.

Chapter 1
Reliability Testing of PV Module in the Outdoor Condition

Birinchi Bora*¹, O.S. Sastry¹, Som Mondal² and B. Prasad²

¹National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram, India

²TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, India

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

This chapter describes the procedure of reliability testing of PV modules. Applicable standards for both indoor and outdoor conditions are explained. Required equipment for the inspection of the PV module in the outdoor condition, its scope and procedures, are described in this chapter. Procedures to quantify the reliability of different failure modes are also explained. A test report format is described in the chapter for reporting the reliability of PV module.

Keywords: PV module, reliability, indoor test, outdoor test, temperature coefficient, I-V tracer, degradation, breakage tester

1.1 Introduction

People’s energy requirements are increasing day by day. For meeting their energy requirements, most people are using conventional energy sources. However, due to limited and unsustainable conventional sources of energy generation, the popularity of solar photovoltaic is increasing as one of the cleanest and best energy sources. As per Global status report 2018 (REN21), renewable energy covers 26.5% of the total estimated global energy consumption. In global energy consumption, the contribution of solar PV technology is only 1.9% [1]. In recent years, PV power plant installation in developing countries has been increasing because of its decentralized applications. It has been observed that in India, the total target of PV power plant installation is very high, up to 100 GW by 2022 [2]. Most of the developed and developing countries of the world are increasing their target to use solar PV as an energy source [3]. So, the competition in the solar PV power market is increasing day by day.

People are cutting costs in the power plant installation to reduce the payback period. The cost of installation of a PV power plant is going down, but at the same time, the component used for the power plant must be reliable. The reliability of a power plant is nothing but getting optimum output with safety during its operating lifetime [4]. The reliability of the components of the PV power plant needs to be tested before its installation in the field [5]. Testing standards for reliability testing of components of PV power plant are available from different international organizations like the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), IEEE, UL, TUV, etc. In the case of a tropical country like India, the module gets a fail in the field because of the harsh environment, although the module qualifies in the test, according to IEC 61215/IEC 61646. A survey conducted by National Institute of Solar Energy, India and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, has reported that the degradation rate of C-S...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• About the Editor
• Contributors
• Chapter 1: Reliability Testing of PV Module in the Outdoor Condition
• Chapter 2: Solar Energy Technologies and Water Potential for Distillation: A Pre-Feasibility Investigation for Rajasthan, India
• Chapter 3: Design Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic Power Plants for Northern and Southern Regions of India
• Chapter 4: Cold Storage with Backup Thermal Energy Storage System
• Chapter 5: Development of Parabolic Trough Collector Based Power and Ejector Refrigeration System Using Eco-Friendly Refrigerants
• Chapter 6: Unlocking the Design of Stand-Alone and Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar PV Systems
• Index
• End User License Agreement