pv magazine test – September 2023 results

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New bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) products from Astronergy, HY Solar, Trina Solar and a back contact product from Aiko were installed in the outdoor test field on Sep. 1. We removed this day from the results so that these modules can be ranked together. A back contact product from Longi and a heterojunction (HJT) product from Risen are going through indoor testing and we expect to add them to the outdoor test installation shortly.

We observed that the energy yield figures of several top-performing products are very close and this may render the numbered ranking method we have been using less meaningful. CEA is working on a new ranking system that will adapt to these new trends and be more representative of product performance.

The average bifacial boost was 9.16% for September 2023. Bifacial boost is defined as the relative advantage of the average specific energy yield of all bifacial products compared to the average specific energy yield of all monofacial mono passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) products. As more TOPCon bifacial products have been installed recently, we decided to begin reporting the bifacial boost figures for PERC and TOPCon solar separately, in addition to the overall bifacial boost.

Bifacial boost

All in Wh/WpTotal June 2023Total July 2023Total Aug. 2023Total Sep. 2023
Average monthly yield124.06124.66133.43103.62
Average monthly bifacial yield133.34134.30142.29108.65
Average monthly monofacial PERC yield119.80120.42129.1299.28
Operation days26292329
Average daily yield4.774.055.803.57
Average daily bifacial yield5.134.396.193.75
Average daily monofacial PERC yield4.613.905.613.42
Bifacial TOPCon boostN/AN/AN/A10.88%
Bifacial PERC boostN/AN/AN/A8.21%
All technologies bifacial boost11.30%11.01%10.20%9.16%

 

Specific energy yield ranking of bifacial modules – historical

#Installation monthProductTypeSample selection methodTotal
June 2023 Wh/Wp
Total
July 2023 Wh/Wp
Total
Aug. 2023 Wh/Wp
Total
Sep. 2023 Wh/Wp
June 2023 RankJuly 2023 RankAug. 2023 RankSep. 2023 Rank
502023/9/1Astronergy CHSM72N(DG)/F-BH-580Bifacial N-TOPCon3///112.05///1
372021/5/1LONGi LR4-72HBD-445MBifacial PERC3137.06137.27146.60111.112212
422023/6/5DAS-DH144NA-570Bifacial N-TOPCon3138.07139.49146.49110.651123
262019/8/28LONGi LR6-72HBD375Bifacial PERC1136.22136.22145.67110.444444
272019/12/31Jolywood JW-D72N-400Bifacial N-TOPCon3136.78136.84145.78110.313335
472023/9/1HY NT10/72GDF-565Bifacial N-TOPCon3///110.01///6
452023/8/15Trina TSM-NEG9RC.27Bifacial N-TOPCon3///109.31///7
412022/12/18Tongwei TH550PMB6-58SDCBifacial PERC1133.10134.44140.75108.405568
432023/6/23Tongwei TWMND-72HD565Bifacial N-TOPCon3//143.57108.18//59
382021/11/20LONGi LR5-72HBD-535MBifacial PERC3130.89131.15139.65106.4466810
282020/4/15Risen RSM114-6-405BMDGBifacial PERC3130.86130.56139.89106.3677711
342021/7/1JA JAM72D20-445MBBifacial PERC2128.60128.72137.36104.7388912
322021/7/1Risen RSM150-8-500BMDGBifacial PERC1128.48128.76137.13104.54991013

 

Specific energy yield ranking of monofacial modules – historical

#Installation monthProductTypeSample selection methodTotal
June 2023 Wh/Wp
Total
July 2023 Wh/Wp
Total
Aug. 2023 Wh/Wp
Total
Sep. 2023 Wh/Wp
June 2023 RankJuly 2023 RankAug. 2023 RankSep. 2023 Rank
442023/9/1AIKO A600-MAF72MwN-back contact3///104.79///1
302020/7/7GCL GCL-M3/72H380Cast PERC1123.00123.20133.26102.232212
292020/7/7CSI CS3U-390MSPERC2123.32123.44132.83102.121123
312020/10/1JA JAM60S10-345/MRPERC2122.23121.70131.09101.574444
352021/7/1JA JAM72S20-445MRPERC2122.62122.85131.80101.133335
202018/11/21Phono PS380MH-24/THPERC1120.47120.72130.80100.395556
362021/11/20JA JAM72S30-540MRPERC2119.12119.41127.1397.986667
212019/3/1Risen RSM120-6-320MPERC1107.81106.27116.9689.547778
102018/5/24Recom RCM-275-6MB-4-BB21Mono198.6596.20105.3686.058889
222019/5/4Znshine ZXP6-60-275/PMulti195.8293.70102.9584.9299910
Note: Explanation of sample selection method categorization: 1 Sample randomly selected by CEA from a large production lot; 2 Sample purchased from the market by CEA; 3 Sample provided by supplier, without random selection.

 

Notes on the energy yield measurements:

  • The energy yield comparison among various technologies, including bifacial boost, will be analyzed using products installed after the beginning of 2019.
  • The energy yield is given in Wh/Wp and calculated by dividing the energy produced by the module by the maximum power point (Pmax) at standard test conditions (STC) of the module. This Pmax is the maximum STC power after a process of stabilization.
  • The results are grouped in categories, per module type.
  • The bifacial boost depends on many parameters: the bifaciality factor, the installation geometry, the albedo of the ground, and the sun angle and diffuse irradiance. The ground in this case is gray gravel.

Test cooperation

pv magazine test is a cooperative effort involving pv magazine, APsystems, CEA, and Gsolar. All testing procedures are carried out at Gsolar’s test laboratory in Xi’an, China. CEA supervises these tests and designed both the indoor and outdoor testing procedures.

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