Investigation of potential induced degradation (PID) of solar modules from different manufacturers

Abstract

In recent years the potential induced degradation (PID) of photovoltaic modules (crystalline and thin film) has attracted a strong interest, as it turned out that PID occurs frequently in PV systems and solar parks. PID is the loss of system power initiated by leakage currents at high voltages. The phenomenon occurs most commonly in photovoltaic (PV) modules that are closest to the negative pol when modules with p-type cells of c-Si are used. Especially in wet weather undesired leakage current decreases the performance of the cells. In this work different standard modules from different manufacturers and customized mini modules with different components were PID tested and analyzed. Additionally, indoor and outdoor degraded modules were investigated. The influence of the encapsulant was seen and it was shown that a simple PID test is not sufficient for life time prediction.