Reliability of commercial triple junction concentrator solar cells under real climatic conditions and its influence on electricity cost

Vázquez, M.; Tamayo-Arriola, Julen; Orlando, Vincenzo; Núñez, Neftalí; Alburquerque, Olga; Algora, Carlos

doi:10.1002/pip.2902

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Following the finite element calculations by Marta Victoria et al 32 , a 70 °C operation temperature has been assumed as representative of small (1 mm 2 ) cells with excellent passive cooling (directly attached to a copper plate) under high concentrated irradiance (1000 suns) 32 . This is a best case scenario with current technology, but choosing such a low operation temperature might be justified as reliability studies have shown that good heat extraction can prolong the life of concentrator solar cells by decades 34 . A minimum temperature at zero irradiance of 15 °C is assumed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar cell designs by maximizing energy production based on machine learning clustering of spectral variations

2018

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Due to spectral sensitivity effects, using a single standard spectrum leads to a large uncertainty when estimating the yearly averaged photovoltaic efficiency or energy yield. Here we demonstrate how machine learning techniques can reduce the yearly spectral sets by three orders of magnitude to sets of a few characteristic spectra, and use the resulting proxy spectra to find the optimal solar cell designs maximizing the yearly energy production. When using standard conditions, our calculated efficiency limits show good agreement with current photovoltaic efficiency records, but solar cells designed for record efficiency under the current standard spectra are not optimal for maximizing the yearly energy yield. Our results show that more than 1 MWh m−2 year−1 can realistically be obtained from advanced multijunction systems making use of the direct, diffuse, and back-side albedo components of the irradiance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar cell designs by maximizing energy production based on machine learning clustering of spectral variations

2018

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“…Then, the photogeneration is corrected accordingly applying a wavelength‐dependent factor as suggested elsewhere 11,12 . Changes in the operating temperature (owing to a lower absorption as the substrate is thinned down) are not considered, as it will be highly dependent on the encapsulation and operating conditions of each device in particular 39,40 . Consequently, the temperature is set to 25°C.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and the device packaging (solar cell size, thermal dissipation block, etc.) in a given solar panel 39,40 …”

Section: Modeling Of Thinned Ge Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical and experimental assessment of thinned germanium substrates for III–V multijunction solar cells

Lombardero

Ochoa

Miyashita

et al. 2020

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Solar cells manufactured on top of Ge substrates suffer from inherent drawbacks that hinder or limit their potential. The most deleterious ones are heavy weight, high bulk recombination, lack of photon confinement, and an increase of the heat absorption. The use of thinned Ge substrates is herein proposed as a possible solution to the aforementioned challenges. The potential of a thinned Ge subcell inside a standard GaInP/Ga(In)As/Ge triple-junction solar cell is assessed by simulations, pointing to an optimum thickness around 5-10 μm. This would reduce the weight by more than 90%, whereas the available current for the Ge subcell would decrease only by 5%. In addition, the heat absorption for wavelengths beyond 1600 nm would decrease by more than 85%. The performance of such a device is highly influenced by the front and back surface recombination of the p-n junction. Simulations remark that good back surface passivation is mandatory to avoid losing power generation by thinning the substrate. In contrast, it has been found that front surface recombination lowers the power generation in a similar manner for thin and thick solar cells. Therefore, the benefits of thinning the substrate are not limited by the front surface recombination. Finally, Ge single-junction solar cells thinned down to 85 μm by wet etching processes are demonstrated. The feasibility of the thinning process is supported by the limited losses measured in the current generation (less than 6%) and generated voltage (4%) for the thinnest solar cell manufactured.

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“…14 It has been observed that locations with the higher irradiance are not always the most costeffective for PV applications due to reliability reasons. 29 In the literature, there is an interesting work that analyzes the degradation of PV power for the different climates of Köppen-Geiger climate 12 : A (tropical), B (dry), C (temperate), D (continental), and E (polar). In high-temperature climates, PV plants show more evident degradation mechanisms (1.13%/year).…”

Section: Influence Of Degradation In the Warranty Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Warranty assessment of photovoltaic modules based on a degradation probabilistic model

Prieto‐Castrillo

Núñez

Vázquez

2020

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Evaluating the probability of failure of a product during the warranty is key to estimating the cost of its entire life cycle. Photovoltaic (PV) modules are the most reliable elements of a PV system, and their high reliability translates into long warranty periods (typically 25 to 30 years). The number of PV modules that fail during warranty and when they failed is an important issue to estimate the life cycle cost of PV modules. In this paper, we propose a coupled degradation‐warranty model for PV modules. The proposed model is aimed to assess the probability of failure over time covered by warranty based on degradation data. This allows us to estimate the time of PV modules failure covered by the warranty. Although the warranty model has been applied to some forms of degradation and sales functions, our method can be applied to any real application. This allows the key parameters of the warranty to be obtained in a simple way. The required degradation parameters to fulfill warranty depend on the allowable ratio of warranted elements. However, the main conclusion of the influence of degradation rates on warranty is that it is not possible to fulfill 25 years of warranty if degradation rates are larger than 0.8%/year. The required degradation rates values, for 25 years of warranty, will be lower than 0.5%/year if the allowed warranted element is in the range of 1%.

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Reliability of commercial triple junction concentrator solar cells under real climatic conditions and its influence on electricity cost

Cited by 11 publications

References 25 publications

Solar cell designs by maximizing energy production based on machine learning clustering of spectral variations

Solar cell designs by maximizing energy production based on machine learning clustering of spectral variations

Theoretical and experimental assessment of thinned germanium substrates for III–V multijunction solar cells

Warranty assessment of photovoltaic modules based on a degradation probabilistic model

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