diy solar

diy solar

PV Panels - they just don't make 'em like they used to

Hedges

I See Electromagnetic Fields!
Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
20,053
(Or so says this year's report.)

"In-depth studies of 36 solar projects in India show that modules with less than five years of field operation have higher average degradation rates than older modules, especially in hot climates."

"The findings may undermine the financial viability of 40-year modeled lifetimes for modern solar power plants that assume aggressive annual degradation rates, particularly if rigorous due diligence that includes BOM specification is not conducted."

(Later says same model panel can have a variety of BOM components, so one may be more reliable than another of the same model.)

PID, Potential Induced Degradation, is shown as a leading cause. This effect is influenced by P-type vs. N-type silicon, positive grounded vs. negative grounded vs. non-grounded array (transformerless grid-tie inverters have half the PV panels biased above ground and half below, so some are protected against PID and some are subject to it.) It appears to me that if we are able to configure our system with the preferred positive vs. negative grounding for the type of silicon used in our panels (or select preferred type of panel for our system's grounding), we can prevent PID. But most transformerless inverters don't allow that.

After you click through the pages describing accelerated tests, last one lists "Top Performer" brands/models for 2021. They never disclose the $#!& list, but graphs show how badly some performed.



The following link provides download of reports for previous years:

 
Thanks for this info!

I hate it when they don't bother to actually list who to avoid. What's the point then? That gives the impression that if you aren't in the list anything else is bad which isn't necessarily true.

I have all Kyocera panels and when they were purchased I thought they were top of the line (have no issues with my 120W panels going on 15 years now). But now I'm not even sure they are manufactured anymore since everyone seems to have switched to ones made and branded by Chinese companies.

It also makes you wonder how easy it would be for some of these companies who didn't even seem to exist 5 years ago to simply rename itself in 20 years or less to avoid dealing with any warranty issues.
 
Ah, the good old day when panels were $10 - $15 a watt or more...

I have a beloved Sanyo panel that still smokes anything I've used since. Huge off-axis performance, custom matched bypass diodes at .15v loss in a silica gel.. and this wasn't even their top end. Manufactured in the U.S. and is a total pita to carry around... sniff..
 
(Or so says this year's report.)

"In-depth studies of 36 solar projects in India show that modules with less than five years of field operation have higher average degradation rates than older modules, especially in hot climates."

"The findings may undermine the financial viability of 40-year modeled lifetimes for modern solar power plants that assume aggressive annual degradation rates, particularly if rigorous due diligence that includes BOM specification is not conducted."

(Later says same model panel can have a variety of BOM components, so one may be more reliable than another of the same model.)

PID, Potential Induced Degradation, is shown as a leading cause. This effect is influenced by P-type vs. N-type silicon, positive grounded vs. negative grounded vs. non-grounded array (transformerless grid-tie inverters have half the PV panels biased above ground and half below, so some are protected against PID and some are subject to it.) It appears to me that if we are able to configure our system with the preferred positive vs. negative grounding for the type of silicon used in our panels (or select preferred type of panel for our system's grounding), we can prevent PID. But most transformerless inverters don't allow that.

After you click through the pages describing accelerated tests, last one lists "Top Performer" brands/models for 2021. They never disclose the $#!& list, but graphs show how badly some performed.



The following link provides download of reports for previous years:

Over in the land of Oz (australia) i used the following site some 15 years ago when choosing my panels. Mine are still going strong although some reduction in output of circa 20% for the UK cool climate. They are still on the go http://dkasolarcentre.com.au/locations/alice-springs/graphs
 
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