PV Lifetime Energy Yield

PV Lifetime Energy Yield

Velpuru, Abhishek (TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Santbergen, R. (mentor)
Vogt, M.R. (mentor)
Gordon, I.M.F. (graduation committee)
Gholizad, B. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Electrical Engineering | Sustainable Energy Technology

2021-08-06

The global share of photovoltaic electricity has been expanding at a breakneck pace with CAGR of 27% over the last decade. This resulted in remarkable advancements in photovoltaic technology and design. The performance of the majority of PV modules is determined in laboratories under controlled conditions. Perhaps the climatic conditions on-site are not always stable when the PV module is installed. As a result, modules are subjected to changing environmental stressors such as temperature, relative humidity, UV radiation, and cyclic temperatures. Each of these environmental factors results in a distinct mode and mechanism of degradation, resulting in a loss of performance over time. As a result, determining the rate of degradation of a photovoltaic module is crucial for performance prediction and financial analysis. Primarily, this research identifies a degradation model that is adaptable to various of photovoltaic technologies and designs while maintaining long-term accuracy such model is implemented into PVMD toolbox. We use this model to explore the degradation of photovoltaic modules in a variety of locations around the world, as each site has its own distinct environment. We explore a few well-known climates, namely tropical, steppe, temperate, desert, and cold. According to the study's findings, the lifetime of Cold > Steppe > Desert > Temperate > Tropical and inverse for degradation rates. Financial analysis is critical for determining the value and social impact of a project. Thus, the levelized cost of electricity metric is utilized to determine the economic value of photovoltaic modules under the various climatic conditions indicated previously. To perform this study an LCOE model is incorporated in PVMD toolbox consisting of economic and system variables along with growth rate per year parameter to determine future costs of PV modules. Tropical, steppe, and cold regions are evaluated financially using a variety of economic scenarios and discount rates in order to compare the effect of degradation on LCOE. Tropical zones have the highest LCOE values and the greatest influence on LCOE when the scenario is changed. Cold zones exhibit the greatest range of LCOE values in sensitivity analysis. Finally, as crystalline silicon modules approach their theoretical limit, we discovered the tandem module in quest of more efficient technologies. Due to its broad compatibility with silicon modules, this study focuses on perovskite/silicon tandem modules. Despite this, new research indicates that perovskite/silicon tandem modules are susceptible to degradation. As a result, a model is designed with the objective of assessing the total degradation of tandem modules. We focused on the ability of the perovskite layer degradation to affect the overall degradation of the tandem module by employing normalized power in tandem degradation research. To investigate correlations, the energy production loss owing to degradation in tandem modules is compared to that of an independent crystalline silicon module. Following that, the LCOE of tandem modules is assessed and compared to that of crystalline silicon modules in order to determine the economic impact. According to the study, the perovskite layer in 4T tandem modules degrades at a greater rate than the perovskite layer in 2T tandem modules in order to maintain the same lifetime as independent crystalline silicon modules at the location. When perovskite layers in 2T and 4T degrade at optimal rate, they reach economic equilibrium at 5% and 10% additional module cost over crystalline silicon module.

PV Modules
Degradation
LCOE
Perovskite solar cells
Tandem modules
Energy Yield Simulations
Lifetime

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:72a496a8-b589-4d5b-bf57-dc067624acee

2022-12-31

Student theses

master thesis

© 2021 Abhishek Velpuru