Potential induced degradation (PID) leads to power degradation, and reduces durability and reliability of solar modules. However, this problem has not been thoroughly solved so far. The results from interlaboratory and field study show contradictory fault phenomenon for PID. In this paper, PID of crystalline silicon photovoltaic power plants distributed in various climate conditions was investigated. These photovoltaic power plants consist of two types of crystalline silicon solar modules, which cover almost all kinds of front glass, ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) and backsheet available commercially. It was found that only a few of power plants were affected by PID. By measuring current voltage characteristics of PID-affected solar modules, the real faults phenomenon was uncovered and classified into regular and irregular power degradation in a module string. The results obtained in this work show that the negative potential caused by high system voltage and stacking faults are necessary and sufficient conditions for PID occurrence for the first time. The anomalous power degradation is related to the stacking fault, which appears randomly during the crystal growth.

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