The rapidly growth of the PV industry is constantly bringing progress in terms of new technologies, from solar modules to inverters, however, these innovations are offered on the market before any long-term analysis is available. Most tests concentrate on ensuring that modules meet quality standards during their early stage, the crucial aspect of advancing these innovations in performance and quality is ensuring a proper equilibrium with long-term durability. Numerous levels of new products introduced simultaneously nowadays, potentially give rise to unforeseen issues that might take a few years to be identified.
For the RACONT 2050 project, a 132-kW power plant was built at the USI-SUPSI Est campus in Viganello (Switzerland). This plant incorporates 5 cutting edge PV module technologies: Topcon N-type, heterojunction, perk, mono and bifacial. Innovative diagnostic tools for deep performance analysis were also installed to help determining the long-term reliability of certain new PV technologies beyond 2050, and at the same it will facilitate the accumulation of essential long-term data for the star of subsequent R&D projects focused on module reliability and lifetime prediction.
The main objective of this project is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth demonstration of the initial longevity and long-term reliability of emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies in relation to various system configurations. In pursuit of this goal, the project aims not only to evaluate the performance of these new photovoltaic technologies over extended operating periods, but also to contrast the technological variances inherent in these systems. To facilitate in-depth analysis, the project will incorporate the participation of the TISO PV plant, a functioning 40 years old installation located in Trevano (Switzerland).
Allowing direct and meaningful comparisons between existing and emerging technologies is crucial to understanding product evolution and to find the most effective way to keep moving the PV industry further. Early results of the RACONT 2050 project will be shared soon. Stay tuned!
Click here to know more about the 40 years of TISO PV plant.