Statistical overview of findings by IR-inspections of PV-plants

First statistical evaluation of IR-inspections of PV-plants reveals that 86% of the installed PV-plants show IR-abnormalities. More than 120 PV-plants with more than 160,000 PV-modules were inspected and evaluated statistically. Main IR-abnormalities or failures in modules and string installations are analyzed, respectively. The average failure rate for PV-modules is about 8% and for module strings approximately 4%. The differentiation between the installation locations reveals that small residential installation show relatively more defective modules than large field installations. – Therefore, IR-imaging is a valuable method to give fast and reliable information about the actual quality and failure rate in inspected PV-installations.