Performance evaluation of micromorph based thin film photovoltaic modules in real operating conditions of composite climate

The micromorph thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) technology uses tandem solar cell structure comprising of hydrogenated amorphous and microcrystalline p-i-n junction silicon cells which needs a long period of outdoor exposure for stabilization. In this paper, the performance analysis of grid interactive (GI) micromorph TFPV system has been assessed for a period of 166 days in real operating conditions on the basis of performance ratio (PR), thermal normalized PR (PR_STC), alternate reporting conditions (ARC), energetic and exergetic studies. A novel methodology for performance evaluation has been developed by utilizing per minute operating data collected from a micromorph based GI-TFPV system of 7.92 kW_P rated stabilized capacity. The system is found to be operating in the range of 5.1 kW_P to 5.6 kW_P as compared to the 5.94 kW_P stabilized rated capacity after removing the strings with mechanical damaged modules. The average PR and PR_STC of the system are found to be 0.83 and 0.89 respectively, with an average degradation rate of 1.53%/month and 1.22%/month respectively. The average exergetic, energetic and alternate current output efficiencies of the 7.92 kW_P GI-TFPV system are found to be 7.38%, 6.83% and 6.69% respectively. The performance of inverters and effect of module breakage has also been evaluated. - Highlights: • Performance analysis of 7.92 kW_P micromorph PV system has been carried out. • Electrical parameters have been assessed at alternative reporting conditions. • Exergy analysis of the system has been carried out. • Average PR and PR_STC of the system are found to be 0.83 and 0.89 respectively. • Average energy and exergy efficiency are found to be 6.91% and 7.48% respectively.