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; Messaoudi Choukri; Mohammed Regragui

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04079

Degradation and performance analysis of a monocrystalline PV system without EVA encapsulating in semi-arid climate

Heliyon. 2020 Jun 7;6(6):e04079. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04079. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Authors

Charaf Hajjaj^{1

2

3}, Abdellatif Bouaichi^{2

4}, Houssain Zitouni^{2

5}, Ahmed Alami Merrouni^{2

6}, Abdellatif Ghennioui², Badr Ikken², Mohammadi Benhmida³, Messaoudi Choukri⁴, Mohammed Regragui⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Applied Sciences for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Higher School of Technology of Essaouira, Cadi Ayyad University, BP.383, Essaouira, Morocco.
² Institut de Recherche en Energie Solaire et Energies Nouvelles (IRESEN), Green Energy Park, Benguerir, Morocco.
³ Laboratory of Electronics, Instrumentation and Energetic, Chouaïb Doukkali University, El Jadida, Morocco.
⁴ OATE Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Errachidia, Morocco.
⁵ MANAPSE Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
⁶ Materials Science, New Energies & Applications Research Group, University Mohammed First, 60000, Oujda, Morocco.

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.

Keywords: Degradation; Electrical engineering; Electrical performances; Electroluminescence; Energy; IR thermal imaging; Photovoltaic.