Study on failure models and degradation rate of PV aged modules in field in China

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of degradation rate and fail models of PV crystalline silicon modules operated 1030 years from 5 plants 4 climatic zones in China. The PV modules wereused as off-grid home system, roof on-grid system, and ground on-grid system. The 4 climatic zones cover most of PV market in china. By visual inspection study we find that the highest frequency of failure model found here is metallization and interconnect corrosion. The average degradation rate of the tested modules is 0.73%/year. No clear correlation between degradation rate and climatic zone is found.