Comparative Performance Assessment of Nine Crystalline and Thin film Solar PV Technologies in Six different climates in India

Abstract

India has a huge target of achieving 100 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) installation by year 2022 and hence detailed performance analysis of various crystalline and thin film PV technologies in different climatic conditions is important in ensuring reliability and investment profitability of future solar PV plants in the country. PVSyst simulation tool is used in modeling and analysing the performance of nine commercially available solar PV technologies in six climatic zones in India. Comparative analysis of different PV technologies in terms of energy generation, capacity factor, performance ratio, annual energy density, system efficiency, PV capture & system losses at the end of 1st and 25th year of service life of solar PV plant is presented. Based on the simulation results, solar PV plants with tandem amorphous silicon (a-Si:H tandem) modules have highest yield and performance ratio followed by copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS), micro-morph ($\mathrm{a}-\text{Si}/\mu\mathrm{c}-\text{Si}$), heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV technologies in all climates. This is followed by amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) & crystalline PV technologies in hot climates whereas in cold climates, mc-Si and pc-Si PV technologies have comparable performance followed by thin film technologies (a-Si and edge defined film fed growth (Si-EFG)). Si-EFG PV technology is found to have least energy yield and performance ratio in all climates.