Quantifying the anti-soiling benefits of anti-reflective coatings on first solar cadmium telluride PV modules

Grammatico, Mark; Littmann, Bodo

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2016.7749913

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As explained in the previous section, mild to moderate soiling acts as a blue filter on the surface of PV modules, meaning it has a greater negative effect on the performance of CdTe systems than on mc-Si. Furthermore, Grammatico and Littmann 16 showed an annual average anti-soiling benefit of up to 25% for ARCcoated over bare CdTe in semi-arid and desert climates, a value that may be minimized in climates with favorable conditions for frequent rain events-such as the one found at this study's site location-but might still account for advantages for ARC-coated CdTe. These conditions might have influenced the performance of the systems throughout the year, especially during winter months when rain events are less frequent and less intense in Florian opolis.…”

Section: Soiling Impactsmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Grammatico and Littmann. 16 The IV curve measurements were made in winter, a season with less frequent and less intense rain events in Florian opolis. This could have led to a higher accumulation of soiling on the bare-CdTe system at the time, while the low intensity and occasional rain events could have been enough to reduce the deposited soiling on the ARC-coated system.…”

Section: Power and Soiling Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[12][13][14][15] Furthermore, antireflective coated CdTe aims at introducing an even larger advantage to these PV modules, by reducing incidence angle losses at normal incidence-increasing CdTe's nameplate power-and at other angles as well, leading to better performance in real operating conditions, especially for fixed-tilt systems. 16,17 By comparing the performance of real-life PV systems, this study further investigates performance advantages of CdTe and ARC CdTe over traditional mc-Si for warm and sunny climates. No such comparison among these three types of PV modules has been done for the Brazilian climate, which is a relevant market for the PV industry, with great solar resource 18 and a rapidly growing PV installed capacity.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Performance assessment of bare and anti‐reflective coated CdTe photovoltaic systems in comparison to multicrystalline Si in Brazil

Pires

Braga

Rüther

2021

Progress in Photovoltaics

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The performance of three ground-mounted fixed-tilt photovoltaic (PV) systems installed at the Solar Energy Research Laboratory Fotovoltaica/UFSC in Florian opolis, southern Brazil (27 S, 48 W, Cfa Köppen-Geiger climate classification), were analyzed in this paper. This study compares the performance of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film PV modules (both with and without an anti-reflective coating [ARC]) and multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) PV systems over two full years of continuous operation. Furthermore, the paper presents a literature review on previous studies that investigated the main environmental parameters that affect the performance of CdTe and m-Si PV systems. Results revealed that throughout the period analyzed, the CdTe with ARC PV system presented the best performance, with an overall annual energy yield 5% higher than the reference mc-Si PV system. In order to evaluate the performance behavior of the three PV systems under study, the main environmental parameters that affect the efficiency of PV systems were analyzed: temperature, spectrum, angle of incidence, weak-light responsivity, and soiling impact. Irradiation levels for all PV systems were identical, as they are all operating at the same site.Temperature followed by spectral content of sunlight presented the highest impacts on performance, resulting in estimated overall performance gains of 1.9% and 1.5%, respectively, for the CdTe systems. These findings are consistent with our previous research, showing that CdTe has a performance advantage over traditional monofacial crystalline silicon technologies in warm and sunny climates.

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Section: Soiling Impactsmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Power and Soiling Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance assessment of bare and anti‐reflective coated CdTe photovoltaic systems in comparison to multicrystalline Si in Brazil

Pires

Braga

Rüther

2021

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…[2][3][4] Soiling rate reductions of more than 80% have been reported from outdoor exposure studies; however, over longer periods, average anti-soiling performances are typically much lower (e.g., 20%-50%) and could even be worse than uncoated glasses depending on coating type, local climatic conditions, and status of degradation. 28,[59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73] Tilt Angle and Solar Trackers Field studies consistently show that soiling rates significantly decrease at steeper surface tilt angles. 2,47,74 In addition, new insights indicate that, for several locations at least, soiling could be similar or even greater during the night than during the day, 1,75 suggesting soiling mitigation by vertical or inverted overnight stowing 76 (see Figure 4B).…”

Section: Dew Mitigation Module Design Site Adaptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techno-Economic Assessment of Soiling Losses and Mitigation Strategies for Solar Power Generation

Ilse

Micheli

Figgis

et al. 2019

Joule

278

123

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Soiling consists of the deposition of contaminants onto photovoltaic (PV) modules or mirrors and tubes of concentrated solar power systems (CSPs). It often results in a drastic reduction of power generation, which potentially renders an installation economically unviable and therefore must be mitigated. On the other hand, the corresponding costs for cleaning can significantly increase the price of energy generated. In this work, the importance of soiling is assessed for the global PV and CSP key markets. Even in optimized cleaning scenarios, soiling reduces the current global solar power production by at least 3%-4%, with at least 3-5 billion V annual revenue losses, which could rise to 4%-7%, and more than 4-7 billion V losses, in 2023. Therefore, taking into account the underlying physics of natural soiling processes and the regional cleaning costs, a techno-economic assessment of current and proposed soiling mitigation strategies such as innovative coating materials is presented. Accordingly, the research and development needs and challenges in addressing soiling are discussed.

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“…PV modules experience a reflection loss of just over 4% from the cover glass/superstrate surface due to the difference in refractive index between glass and air, although this can be significantly reduced by the use of an anti-reflection (AR) coating placed at the glass/air interface. Typically, a single layer of porous SiO 2 approximately 125 nm thick is used for both thin film CdTe and crystalline silicon modules [7], [8], as the porous structure results in a lower refractive index, resulting in lower reflection. The porosity introduced into the coating lowers its resistance to abrasion which occurs during module cleaning [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Broadband Multilayer Antireflection Coating for Thin Film CdSeTe/CdTe Solar Cells

Law,

Kujovic,

Togay

et al. 2024

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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Thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics (PV) is the most successful second-generation PV technology, with a current installed capacity of over 30 GWp, predominantly at utility scale. Recent improvements in the buffer layer of the device, switching from cadmium sulphide (CdS) to transparent magnesium-doped zinc oxide (MZO), tin oxide (SnO2) or zinc oxide (ZnO), and the addition of selenium to the absorber layer, have expanded the wavelength range over which CdTe devices operate, from 400-850 nm to 350-900 nm. These changes have resulted in higher efficiency devices. As a result, an optimised anti-reflection (AR) coating design is required to improve the efficiency further. A 6-layer AR coating of SiO2 and ZrO2, building on a previous 4-layer design for CdTe devices, has been designed, modelled, and fabricated on 3.8 mm thick fluorinedoped tin oxide (FTO) coated TEC™15 substrates, reducing reflection by 3.38% absolute. Electrical measurements of a CdSeTe/CdTe device before and after addition of the AR coating show an increase in short-circuit current density (Jsc) of almost 1 mAcm −2 , a relative increase of 3.45%, and a 0.6% increase in the conversion efficiency of the device, from 16.93% to 17.53%, which is a relative increase of 3.54%. Unlike conventional single layer AR coatings this multilayer coating is stable even under the high processing temperatures required in module manufacturing, so could be supplied by glass manufacturers. This newly optimised broadband AR coating on will enable significantly higher conversion efficiencies and help push CdSeTe/CdTe module efficiencies higher.

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Quantifying the anti-soiling benefits of anti-reflective coatings on first solar cadmium telluride PV modules

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Performance assessment of bare and anti‐reflective coated CdTe photovoltaic systems in comparison to multicrystalline Si in Brazil

Performance assessment of bare and anti‐reflective coated CdTe photovoltaic systems in comparison to multicrystalline Si in Brazil

Techno-Economic Assessment of Soiling Losses and Mitigation Strategies for Solar Power Generation

A Broadband Multilayer Antireflection Coating for Thin Film CdSeTe/CdTe Solar Cells

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