Motivation, benefits, and challenges for new photovoltaic material & module developments

The current PV market shows an extremely high cost pressure, which is also the driving factor for the development and implementation of new module designs and the use of new materials and components. New technologies, which promise either higher efficiency for the same cost or cost reduction at same efficiency, are very often quickly introduced to the market.

IEA PVPS Task 13 has carried out a global survey of technical efforts aimed at lowering cost and increasing performance and reliability of PV modules by employing new designs, materials and concepts. Based on the ST1.1 report “Designing New Materials for Photovoltaics: Opportunities for Lowering Cost and Increasing Performance through Advanced Material Innovations”, the webinar summarises the experience and results from international research and pilot applications.

Key messages

• Many PV module degradation modes depend on the bill of materials and components and are unique for each single PV module brand and model.
• New technologies that promise a decrease in LCOE are introduced very quickly into mass production, although no long-term experience is available
• Danger of unexpected damage or degradation mechanisms
• Check of compatibility of PV module components will get more and more important in the future, as the variety on different materials and components will grow
• Test methods and standardization lag behind module development

Questions

• Why are material interactions and incompatibilities important for PV module reliability?
• How is selection of backsheet and encapsulant influencing PV module degradation modes?
• Can PV modules be made more reliable through careful selection of their individual components?

Benefit from the top-class research on PV materials. Sign up as a participant here.

• Gernot Oreski, Division Manager, Polymer Competence Center Leoben, Austria
• Laura Bruckman, Associate Research Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA