Degradation and performance analysis of a monocrystalline PV system without EVA encapsulating in semi-arid climate
Charaf Hajjaj, Abdellatif Bouaichi, Houssain Zitouni, Ahmed Alami Merrouni, Abdellatif Ghennioui, Badr Ikken, Mohammadi Benhmida, Choukri Messaoudi, Mohammed Regragui
Abstract
The objective of the current paper is to evaluate the performances drop of a photovoltaic system composed of a new PV module conception without EVA encapsulation. After three years of operation under harsh atmospheric condition at Green Energy Park research facility, in the mid-south of Morocco, the system shows an energy drop around 1.8kWhe in one of its strings. For this reason, an inspection (in-situ and at the lab level) to evaluate and detect the source of this energy drop has been done using the IV-Curve, IR thermal and Electroluminescence. Results show that the Performance Ratio (PR) of the affected string reaches 13%. Besides, two modules from this last one showed a degradation rate (Rd) greater than 4.12 %. It has been found that the main cause of this energy drop is due to the presence of breakages and crack at the modules cells. Those deceases are caused by a bad manual cleaning, as well as, for the nature of the modules, without EVA protection against the mechanical shocks.