IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v162y2020icp285-295.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of long-term performance and reliability of PV modules under tropical climatic conditions in sub-Saharan

Author

Listed:
  • Atsu, Divine
  • Seres, Istvan
  • Aghaei, Mohammadreza
  • Farkas, Istvan

Abstract

Reliability assessment of Photovoltaic (PV) modules is very crucial to increase the service lifetime of PV systems. This study assesses the degradation rate and reliability of PV modules operated for twelve years under the tropical climatic condition in sub-Saharan. For this purpose, various characterization techniques, namely visual inspection, infrared (IR) thermography assessment, and current-voltage (I-V) characterization, have been employed to evaluate the performance of PV modules. Moreover, the functioning of bypass diodes has been tested under partial shading situations. The results demonstrate that after twelve years of outdoor operation, the short-circuit current (Isc) of modules have been degraded up to 16.4% with an average decrease of 11.7% compared to the nameplate values. The open-circuit voltages (Voc) were reduced from 11.4% to 17.1% with a mean of 14.8%. The decline in Fill Factor (FF) of the modules ranges from 11.3% to 24.2%, and the losses of power output were between 34.5% and 41.4%. Moreover, the visual and thermography assessment reveals that the PV modules are severely affected by various failures such as EVA browning, cell interconnects ribbons browning and the corrosion of solder bonds. The results show that averagely, the FF is the most significant factor influencing the loss in the power output of the modules.

Suggested Citation

  • Atsu, Divine & Seres, Istvan & Aghaei, Mohammadreza & Farkas, Istvan, 2020. "Analysis of long-term performance and reliability of PV modules under tropical climatic conditions in sub-Saharan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 285-295.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:285-295
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.08.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120312581
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2020.08.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kamei, Aika & Yoshida, Shota & Takakura, Hideyuki & Minemoto, Takashi, 2014. "Ten years outdoor operation of silicon based photovoltaic modules at central latitude of Japan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 78-82.
    2. Limmanee, Amornrat & Songtrai, Sasiwimon & Udomdachanut, Nuttakarn & Kaewniyompanit, Songpakit & Sato, Yukinobu & Nakaishi, Masaki & Kittisontirak, Songkiate & Sriprapha, Kobsak & Sakamoto, Yukitaka, 2017. "Degradation analysis of photovoltaic modules under tropical climatic conditions and its impacts on LCOE," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(PA), pages 199-204.
    3. Sharma, Vikrant & Chandel, S.S., 2013. "Performance and degradation analysis for long term reliability of solar photovoltaic systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 753-767.
    4. Bouaichi, Abdellatif & Alami Merrouni, Ahmed & Hajjaj, Charaf & Messaoudi, Choukri & Ghennioui, Abdellatif & Benlarabi, Ahmed & Ikken, Badr & El Amrani, Aumeur & Zitouni, Houssin, 2019. "In-situ evaluation of the early PV module degradation of various technologies under harsh climatic conditions: The case of Morocco," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1500-1518.
    5. Phinikarides, Alexander & Kindyni, Nitsa & Makrides, George & Georghiou, George E., 2014. "Review of photovoltaic degradation rate methodologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 143-152.
    6. Atsu, Divine & Agyemang, Emmanuel Okoh & Tsike, Stephen A.K., 2016. "Solar electricity development and policy support in Ghana," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 792-800.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ceran, Bartosz & Mielcarek, Agata & Hassan, Qusay & Teneta, Janusz & Jaszczur, Marek, 2021. "Aging effects on modelling and operation of a photovoltaic system with hydrogen storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    2. Nižetić, Sandro & Jurčević, Mišo & Čoko, Duje & Arıcı, Müslüm & Hoang, Anh Tuan, 2021. "Implementation of phase change materials for thermal regulation of photovoltaic thermal systems: Comprehensive analysis of design approaches," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    3. Zhang, Tao & Jiang, Jiahui & Chen, Daolian, 2021. "An efficient and low-cost DMPPT approach for photovoltaic submodule based on multi-port DC converter," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 1144-1155.
    4. Mohammadreza Aghaei, 2022. "Autonomous Monitoring and Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-6, July.
    5. Negri, Simone & Tironi, Enrico & Superti-Furga, Gabrio & Carminati, Marco, 2021. "VSC-based LVDC distribution network with DERs: Equivalent circuits for leakage and ground fault currents evaluation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1133-1146.
    6. Hassan Daher, Daha & Gaillard, Léon & Ménézo, Christophe, 2022. "Experimental assessment of long-term performance degradation for a PV power plant operating in a desert maritime climate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 44-55.
    7. Yao, Wanxiang & Han, Xiao & Huang, Yu & Zheng, Zhimiao & Wang, Yan & Wang, Xiao, 2022. "Analysis of the influencing factors of the dust on the surface of photovoltaic panels and its weakening law to solar radiation — A case study of Tianjin," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    8. Singh, Rashmi & Sharma, Madhu & Yadav, Kamlesh, 2022. "Degradation and reliability analysis of photovoltaic modules after operating for 12 years: A case study with comparisons," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1170-1186.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bouaichi, Abdellatif & El Amrani, Aumeur & Ouhadou, Malika & Lfakir, Aberrazak & Messaoudi, Choukri, 2020. "In-situ performance and degradation of three different photovoltaic module technologies installed in arid climate of Morocco," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    2. Bouaichi, Abdellatif & Alami Merrouni, Ahmed & Hajjaj, Charaf & Messaoudi, Choukri & Ghennioui, Abdellatif & Benlarabi, Ahmed & Ikken, Badr & El Amrani, Aumeur & Zitouni, Houssin, 2019. "In-situ evaluation of the early PV module degradation of various technologies under harsh climatic conditions: The case of Morocco," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1500-1518.
    3. Abdulwahab A. Q. Hasan & Ammar Ahmed Alkahtani & Seyed Ahmad Shahahmadi & Mohammad Nur E. Alam & Mohammad Aminul Islam & Nowshad Amin, 2021. "Delamination-and Electromigration-Related Failures in Solar Panels—A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-23, June.
    4. Kahoul, Nabil & Chenni, Rachid & Cheghib, Hocine & Mekhilef, Saad, 2017. "Evaluating the reliability of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules in harsh environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 66-72.
    5. Kim, Byungil & Kim, Changyoon, 2018. "Estimating the effect of module failures on the gross generation of a photovoltaic system using agent-based modeling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1019-1024.
    6. Kichou, Sofiane & Silvestre, Santiago & Nofuentes, Gustavo & Torres-Ramírez, Miguel & Chouder, Aissa & Guasch, Daniel, 2016. "Characterization of degradation and evaluation of model parameters of amorphous silicon photovoltaic modules under outdoor long term exposure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 231-241.
    7. Ameur, Arechkik & Berrada, Asmae & Bouaichi, Abdellatif & Loudiyi, Khalid, 2022. "Long-term performance and degradation analysis of different PV modules under temperate climate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 37-51.
    8. Roumpakias, Elias & Stamatelos, Anastassios, 2019. "Performance analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic park after 6 years of operation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 368-378.
    9. Kumar, Manish & Kumar, Arun, 2017. "Performance assessment and degradation analysis of solar photovoltaic technologies: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 554-587.
    10. Hassan Daher, Daha & Gaillard, Léon & Ménézo, Christophe, 2022. "Experimental assessment of long-term performance degradation for a PV power plant operating in a desert maritime climate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 44-55.
    11. Nivelle, Philippe & Tsanakas, John A. & Poortmans, Jef & Daenen, Michaël, 2021. "Stress and strain within photovoltaic modules using the finite element method: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    12. Silvestre, Santiago & Tahri, Ali & Tahri, Fatima & Benlebna, Soumiya & Chouder, Aissa, 2018. "Evaluation of the performance and degradation of crystalline silicon-based photovoltaic modules in the Saharan environment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 57-63.
    13. Tsanakas, John A. & Ha, Long & Buerhop, Claudia, 2016. "Faults and infrared thermographic diagnosis in operating c-Si photovoltaic modules: A review of research and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 695-709.
    14. Hassan Gholami & Harald Nils Røstvik, 2021. "Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) in Europe, Rational Feed-In Tariffs and Subsidies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    15. Aziz, Ali Saleh & Tajuddin, Mohammad Faridun Naim & Adzman, Mohd Rafi & Mohammed, Mohd Fayzul & Ramli, Makbul A.M., 2020. "Feasibility analysis of grid-connected and islanded operation of a solar PV microgrid system: A case study of Iraq," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    16. Figgis, Benjamin & Ennaoui, Ahmed & Ahzi, Said & Rémond, Yves, 2017. "Review of PV soiling particle mechanics in desert environments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 872-881.
    17. Imai, Yurie & Chantana, Jakapan & Kawano, Yu & Hishikawa, Yoshihiro & Minemoto, Takashi, 2019. "Description of performance degradation of photovoltaic modules using spectral mismatch correction factor under different irradiance levels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 444-450.
    18. Cai, Baoping & Liu, Yonghong & Ma, Yunpeng & Huang, Lei & Liu, Zengkai, 2015. "A framework for the reliability evaluation of grid-connected photovoltaic systems in the presence of intermittent faults," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P2), pages 1308-1320.
    19. Tran, Thomas T.D. & Smith, Amanda D., 2017. "fEvaluation of renewable energy technologies and their potential for technical integration and cost-effective use within the U.S. energy sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1372-1388.
    20. Pandey, A.K. & Tyagi, V.V. & Selvaraj, Jeyraj A/L & Rahim, N.A. & Tyagi, S.K., 2016. "Recent advances in solar photovoltaic systems for emerging trends and advanced applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 859-884.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:285-295. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.