Interlaboratory comparison of angular-dependent photovoltaic device measurements

Results and impact on energy rating

authored by

Nicholas Riedel-Lyngskær, Adrián A. Santamaría Lancia, Fabian Plag, Ingo Kröger, Malte R. Vogt, Carsten Schinke, Rasmus S. Davidsen, Mekbib Amdemeskel, Mark J. Jansen, Petra Manshanden, Lenneke H. Slooff, Anna J. Carr, Martin Bliss, Tom Betts, Mikel E. Mayo, Iñigo P. Jauregui, Jose L. Balenzategui, Ruben Roldan, Giovanni Bellenda, Mauro Caccivio, Ulli Kräling, Frank Neuberger, Daniel Zirzow, Jim Crimmins, Charles Robinson, Bruce King, Wesley Teasdale, Cherif Kedir, John Watts, Ryan Desharnais, Peter B. Poulsen, Michael L. Jakobsen, Gisele A. dos Reis Benatto

Abstract

This paper presents the results from an extensive interlaboratory comparison of angular-dependent measurements on encapsulated photovoltaic (PV) cells. Twelve international laboratories measure the incident angle modifier of two unique PV devices. The absolute measurement agreement is ±2.0% to the weighted mean for angles of incidence (AOI) ≤ 65°, but from 70° to 85°, the range of measurement deviations increases rapidly from 2.5% to 23%. The proficiency of the measurements is analysed using the expanded uncertainties published by seven of the laboratories, and it is found that most of the angular-dependent measurements are reproducible for AOI ≤ 80°. However, at 85°, one laboratory's measurement do not agree to the weighted mean within the stated uncertainty, and measurement uncertainty as high as 16% is needed for the laboratories without uncertainty to be comparable. The poor agreement obtained at 85° indicates that the PV community should place minimal reliance on angular-dependent measurements made at this extreme angle until improvements can be demonstrated. The cloud-based Daidalos ray tracing model is used to simulate the angular-dependent losses of the mono-Si device, and it is found that the simulation agrees to the median measurement within 0.6% for AOI ≤ 70° and within 1.4% for AOI ≤ 80°. Finally, the impact that the angular-dependent measurement deviations have on climate specific energy rating (CSER) is evaluated for the six climates described in the IEC 61853-4 standard. When one outlier measurement is excluded, the angular-dependent measurements reported in this work cause a 1.0%–1.8% range in CSER and a 1.0%–1.5% range in annual energy yield, depending on the climate.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Solid State Physics

External Organisation(s)

Technical University of Denmark
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt PTB
Institute for Solar Energy Research (ISFH)
Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek (TNO)
Loughborough University
Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER)
Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT)
University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI)
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)
CFV Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories NM
Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC, LLC)
PV Evolution Labs (PVEL)

Type

Article

Journal

Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications

Volume

29

Pages

315-333

No. of pages

19

ISSN

1062-7995

Publication date

16.02.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Condensed Matter Physics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 13 - Climate Action

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3365 (Access: Closed)