Joint project: ZUPER – Reliability and performance of PV Modules, Systems and Applications

In the ZUPER project, the topic “Reliability of New PV Materials, Components and Modules” is made accessible to a wide audience for use by test institutes, assessors, manufacturing companies and system installers in the form of English-language reports, workshops and webinars. The overall topic includes the subtopics “Degradation modes of new PV module technologies”, “Performance and reliability of second life PV”, “Importance of testing strategies and application-specific load conditions for module reliability” and “Reliability of PV+storage”. The ISFH is significantly involved in the topic of reliability of current photovoltaic module designs and their testing strategies. Solution strategies for their avoidance are compiled and evaluated, and the essential test characteristics to which these defects respond are described in order to be able to evaluate the reliability with regard to the new degradation mechanisms. The ISFH is particularly concerned with the degradation effects that occur in solar modules with large wafers from M6 and larger formats. Here, the underlying mechanism is described, strategies for avoidance are shown, an assessment is made of how relevant the degradation effects are in the application, and testing proposals are discussed internationally. Similarly, the interconnection of split solar cells with high packing density is assessed with regard to their reliability, discussed internationally and prepared in a way that is understandable for the target audience.
In the area of digitalisation, the potential for using measurement data from PV systems in combination with weather data for energy management systems with regard to system performance is to be evaluated and prepared in an internationally coordinated report on “digital integration and digital twins” with the target audience for the PV industry, service providers and the downstream PV sector.