ANNUAL DEGRADATION RATES ESTIMATED FROM OUTDOOR AND INDOOR PERFORMANCES UNDER STC

Abstract

We investigated the annual degradation rates of six types of crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) modules under subtropical coastal climate conditions based on two indices: outdoor performance ratio under high and stable solar irradiance conditions and indoor power output measured under the standard test conditions (STC). The results indicate that the PV modules composed of p-type c-Si solar cells with aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) tend to show the lower annual degradation rates of 0.3%/year or less, although the PV modules consisting of n-type c-Si solar cells tend to show the higher degradation rates from 0.6 to 1.2%/year.