LONG TERM RELIABILITY OF ANTIREFLECTIVE SILICA-BASED COATING ON CIGS PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) module surfaces are suffered from dust deposition and reflection that can cause reduction in efficiency of PV. Therefore, the impact of reflection and soiling must be taken into account in PV performance. This study describes reliable surface coating with superhydrophilic properties that has no degradation on PV systems. We used nano-porous silica films with antireflective and anti-soiling effects on the surface of CIGS PV modules. The coating treatment was performed with single-layer coating on installed modules on Dec, 25 2014 and exposed outdoors to analyze the coating performance. The output of the array increased after coating than before coating. Besides, over 3 year‟s performance of antireflective coating was evaluated and we observed no degradation. Therefore, antireflective coating showed its long term effect of reliability on PV module surface.