Long-term performance and degradation analysis of different PV modules under temperate climate

Abstract

The share of solar photovoltaic in the energy mix is achieving significant growth worldwide. Accurate forecasts of return on investment and a good choice of optimal PV technology for different regions require proper PV studies. Long-term performance and degradation analysis, as well as an economic investigation of three based-silicon PV technologies including amorphous silicon (a-Si), polycrystalline silicon (p-Si), and monocrystalline silicon (m-Si) have been performed in this work. This study has been done based on different performance indicators such as AC energy production (EAC), reference yield (Yr), final yield (Yf), performance ratio (PR), temperature corrected performance ratio (PRSTC), degradation rate (Dr), and levelized cost of energy (LCOE). The results of the performance ratio analysis revealed that crystalline silicon technologies are better than amorphous PV system with values of 84.25% for m-Si, 84.32% for p-Si, and 79.14% for a-Si. The degradation analysis was performed using linear regression (LR) and classical seasonal decomposition (CSD) statistical techniques. The results of these latter indicate that a-Si degrades faster than its counterparts with a ratio of 0.9 ± 0.009%/year and 0.75 ± 0.003%/year, followed by m-Si (0.53 ± 0.01%/year and 0.41 ± 0.003%/year), and p-Si (0.36 ± 0.01%/year and 0.28 ± 0.004%/year) using LR and CSD, respectively. However, these degradation rates are comparable to other degradation rates obtained in studies performed in different climates in Morocco. Finally, the LOCE results demonstrate that p-Si technology is the most cost-effective system with a value of 0.09 USD/kWh compared to 0.1 USD/kWh for m-Si, and 0.13 USD/kWh for a-Si. According to the obtained findings, p-Si is the most optimal and suitable technology to be installed in the mountain temperate climate.