The Hungarian society and the Hungarian state are constantly increasing their solar capacity. More and more solar power plants are being put into operation. The largest of these has a 100 MW peak capacity. Such power plants do not require constant maintenance. However, in the case of low productivity, a conditional assessment is required. The reason for production loss can also be manufacturing, installation, and operational errors. A flying drone was used for finding failures by thermographic scouting. Furthermore, electroluminescent (EL) and flash tests give a comprehensive view of the real state of the modules in a mobile laboratory. We had the opportunity to summarize these test results of more than a thousand modules operating in a solar power plant. The report on the power plant shows that a significant part of the modules became unusable in a short time. After four years, 10% of the 260 Wp modules suffered a performance reduction of more than 10%.
Many factors determine the efficient operation of a photovoltaic cell. These factors can be the intensity and spectral composition of illumination, the surface temperature, the ambient temperature, and the amount contaminations in the air and on the surface of the cells. The aim of the present study is to describe the effect of temperature gradient on the voltage and amperage changes, as well as the power output of a commercial solar cell through experimental methods and numerical simulations performed in MATLAB. The transient temperature investigations have allowed better understanding the time-dependent behavior of a solar cell under constant intensity illumination. Measurements prove that an increase in the surface temperature of the solar cell significantly reduces its performance. Measurements performed with the solar simulator show good conformity with simulated results.
This paper presents a comprehensive inspection of a 10.044 MWp solar power plant that had operational problems. The condition assessment was necessary because the power plant was constantly producing electricity significantly below the expected peak power. The research confirmed that the cause of the decrease in performance is the pollution from the industrial park and the conventional power plant located next to the solar system. The accuracy of the results is confirmed using on-site thermal imaging at the solar power plant and laboratory tests. During the laboratory tests, the electrical performance of 1063 solar panels was examined as well as their damaging and life-reducing effect with further thermography tests. Surface dirt deposition cause several significant problems during energy generation. Power outages are a minor problem, and sustainable production is the main goal in the long term. If the failure and destruction of the solar modules cause more serious damage, the lifetime of the photovoltaic power plants can be shortened.
Solar panels have been widely criticized for their weather dependence and slowly improving efficiency. Several external factors can further increase the efficiency of solar panels, e.g., shading effect and surface contamination. We investigated the warming effect and the negative impact of these factors on energy production during the research. The continuous operation at high temperatures can modify the crystal structure of solar cells in these hot spots. The electroluminescence (EL) images and thermal imaging measurements show crystal structure failure. In addition to structural damage and rapid aging of the solar cells, contaminants can cause power losses of up to 10%.
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