At pv magazine’s first Taiwanese Quality Roundtable, held in Taipei at the Energy Taiwan Forum 2018 on September 20, a range of experts tackled the issues of light induced degredation (LID), Light and elevated Temperature Induced Degradation (LeTID); and floating PV installations.
While Taiwan’s upstream solar market is currently struggling, with reduced capacities, redundancies and falling share prices, following China’s 31/5 PV policy change and India’s 25% safeguard duties, the country’s downstream market is growing in a bid to reach its 20 GW solar capacity goal by 2025.
The sharp rise of mono-PERC modules has been accompanied by the issue of light-induced degradation (LID), however. Jay Lin, chief consultant at PV Guider, says that while he believes many companies are taking measures to mitigate the effects of LID, they are not doing enough. He adds that the technology and equipment are available already, but more needs to be done.
Lin advises investors to undertake a rigorous testing regime for their systems. To this end, he suggests that prior to installation, electroluminescence and IV tests should be conducted. The tests should then be repeated a month after installation. If serious problems occur, claims could be raised by the investors against the manufacturers.
Going into detail about the interaction of mitigating LID and LeTID, Karin Krauß, R&D project manager at Rehm Thermal Systems explained that there are possibilities to reduce wafer hydrogen levels and utilize illumination systems, which allow manufacturers to mitigate both degradation effects.
In addition to discussing LID and LeTID, the Quality Roundtable focused on Taiwan’s floating solar market, which is rapidly growing. Hongjue Hu of DuPont explained the unique technical requirements module manufacturers should bear in mind, if they plan to tap into this market: backsheets need to demonstrate better characteristics regarding durability against UV radiation, or chemical resistance, than in conventional installations.
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