We developed a fully scalable quasi‐SPICE approach for electrical modelling of stress‐induced inhomogeneities in crystalline silicon solar cells, based on damage detected by electroluminescence imaging. We present a model of active and inactive microcracks, highlight their effects on the current‐voltage characteristic, and validate the model on a number of experimental cases. The generalisation of our model to a complexly damaged solar cell shows excellent agreement with the measurements, with only 0.12% estimation error of the power loss of the complexly damaged cell. The ability to accurately model fundamental stress induced inhomogeneities, and their effects on cell level is crucial to estimating long‐term performance degradation and energy yield of installed photovoltaic modules throughout their lifetime. The developed scalable model paves a path to intricate, statistically supported modelling for power loss prediction and mitigation in solar cells, photovoltaic modules, and photovoltaic arrays caused by mechanically induced inhomogeneities.
A development and calibration of a detailed 3D coupled ray-wave optical model for accurate simulations of laterally varying photovoltaic structures is presented and applied for the analysis of interdigitated back contact cells. Four key aspects, which predominantly contribute to the accuracy of optical simulations are highlighted through the validation of the model. The applicability of the model is demonstrated through an example of electroluminescence simulations.
The EU crystalline silicon (c‐Si) PV manufacturing industry has faced strong foreign competition in the last decade. To strive in this competitive environment and differentiate itself from the competition, the EU c‐Si PV manufacturing industry needs to (1) focus on highly performing c‐Si PV technologies, (2) include sustainability by design, and (3) develop differentiated PV module designs for a broad range of PV applications to tap into rapidly growing existing and new markets. This is precisely the aim of the 3.5 years long H2020 funded HighLite project, which started in October 2019 under the work program LC‐SC3‐RES‐15‐2019: Increase the competitiveness of the EU PV manufacturing industry. To achieve this goal, the HighLite project focuses on bringing two advanced PV module designs and the related manufacturing solutions to higher technology readiness levels (TRL). The first module design aims to combine the benefits of n‐type silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cells (high efficiency and bifaciality potential, improved sustainability, rapidly growing supply chain in the EU) with the ones of shingle assembly (higher packing density, improved modularity, and excellent aesthetics). The second module design is based on the assembly of low‐cost industrial interdigitated back‐contact (IBC) cells cut in half or smaller, which is interesting to improve module efficiencies and increase modularity (key for application in buildings, vehicles, etc.). This contribution provides an overview of the key results achieved so far by the HighLite project partners and discusses their relevance to help raise the EU PV industries' competitiveness. We report on promising high‐efficiency industrial cell results (24.1% SHJ cell with a shingle layout and 23.9% IBC cell with passivated contacts), novel approaches for high‐throughput laser cutting and edge re‐passivation, module designs for BAPV, BIPV, and VIPV applications passing extended testing, and first 1‐year outdoor monitoring results compared with benchmark products.
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