2017 International Conference on Electrical, Electronics, Communication, Computer and Optimization Techniques (ICEECCOT)

Performance Degradation Issues of PV Solar

Power Plant
Shahida Begum Reshma Banu SMIEEE Ali Ahammed G.F.
Research Scholar, VTU, Belagavi Dept of ISE, VTU, Center for Post Graduate
Dept of CSE, PDIT, Hospet GSSSIETW, Mysuru, India Studies, Mysuru, India
shahidahpt@gmail.com (Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi) aliahammed78@gmail.com.
reshma127banu@gmail.com

Parameshachari B D SMIEEE Rajashekarappa

Dept of TCE Dept. of ISE
GSSSIETW Mysuru,India SDMCET, Dharwad, India
(Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi) (Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi)
parameshbkit@gmail.com rajashekarmb@gmail.com

Abstract:- P V solar power plants are planned to work for made of sometype of silicon. Solar panels are of two
long time , monitoring of plant will ensure a safety and types: crystalline or amorphous [1].
longterm operation.The photovoltaic system degradation Semiconductors are main part of the PV cells.To
of 10% per year in the year 1991 has reduced to 12% for Increase the efficiency of a cell Puresilicon is used.
25 years due to modules manufactured after 2000. Some
Monocrystalline cells are manufactured using silicon,
of the common and basic degradation issues in pv solar
plants are discussed in this paper. The adequate these cells are the more efficient.The titan oxide anti
maintenance is required for long term operations and reflective coating gives it dark blue color and this helps
increasing performance. in collecting photoelectrons. Mono crystalline cells last
longer and hence usually 25 years of warranty is
Keywords- PV solar plant; degradation; failures. offered by manufacturers on such cells.
Monocrystalline panels are the more expensive
I. INTRODUCTION compared to other solar cells [1]. Polycrystalline and
amorphoussolar panels are less expensive compared to
Solar photovoltaic is an alternate electricity source. the monocrystalline panels. The thin film panels
The countries which receivehuge solar energy from the (amorphous panels) technology is limited (below 10%),
sun have sunny weather nearly throughout a year. In and in future this couldreach 30% to 40%[7]. PV arrays
such places the annual radiation ranges between 1600 contain the solar modules which are attached to ground
to 2200kWh per square meter. Solar energy has where the plant situated by using frames. The
become important as it is environmental friendly, mechanical component acts as the main support
noiseless and abundant. We find more advantages of structure.
solar energy in PV solar plants, due to system the The sun’s rays which are normal to the surface of
modularity, the reliability, and less maintenance cost. solar cell will give best performance. The ground
They are adequate for stand-alone applications, where mounted PVsystems or free-field solar power plants,
the regular solutions are expensive to implement [2]. will have a fixed tilt for stationary systems or an axis
solartracker for non-stationary systems. The dual
A. SOLAR PV PLANT BLOCKS model can be used, depending on the motion of sun
every year, or a single hybrid model can be used, which
The main purpose of PV plants is to convert light will include features of fixed tilt and tracking. Tracking
into electricity. This conversion is done using improves the performance, at the same timeincreasing
photoelectric effect. Basically, a PV plant consists of the system installation cost as well as its maintenance
[2]: cost. PV DC power is converted to AC by Solar
• Photo Voltaic generators, inverters. The PV plant uses Cables, and electrical
• The mounting structure, converters which are connected to the grid [1].
• The Inverters,
• The Cables for connection, II. DEGRADATION
• Electrical connections,
The output degradation of solar modules depends on
• Equipment’s to measure voltage,
temperature and time. The total energy generated is
• Meters to measure energy.
affected by degradation of solar modules and arrays.
The energy is captured from solar radiation using
For first 10 years the panels produce 90% of power,
photovoltaic panels, which in turn depend on
and 80% of power till 25 years. That’s the reason
photovoltaic plants. Almost allof the solar cells are
usually power plants have a warranty of 25 years.

978-1-5386-2361-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

 main component failure values are shown in Table [2]
A. CAUSES OF DEGRADAION below.
The real-time exposures are needed to test the TABLE I. Important component failure rate of pv plant
module degradation. The tests demonstrate the module st Degradation
PV plant 1 year Degradation
Between 1st and
degradation of nearly 1% per year. The increase in components degradation After 3rd year
3rd year
temperature causes the breakdown of a module’s
encapsulant back sheet. An encapsulant is usually PV panels 25% 15% 15%
ethylene vinyl acetate usually called EVA. The back Mounting
3% 1% 1%
sheet usually made of polyvinyl fluoride films [3]. structure
The encapsulant protects internal electrical connections Cables,
Protections
and the cells from entry of moisture. The little moisture electrical
10% 20% 30%
that enters is pushed out daily, when module connectors
temperature increases. The ultra violet rays slowly Inverters 55% 60% 50%
break down the encapsulant material, making it less
elastic. As the time moves, the ability to pushout the Less voltage
5% 3% 3%
moisture reduces. The resistance increases due to the equipment
corrosion, which is caused due to the moisture inside Energy meters 2% 1% 1%
the cell reducing the module operating voltage.
Next cause of degradation is UV light which breaks
the EVA layer causing the degradation. The EVA The failure rate is more in inverters due to inverters
layer is between module’s front glass and the silicon technological complexity, sensitivity of equipment’s
cells. The long-term performance of modules depends and long hours of service. The components other than
on properties of the encapsulant. The encapsulant is inverter show less failure in a solar plant.
used to protect silicon against breaking and cracking. The failures in the inverters are reduced due to
The breakdown of the material will not be visible, but improved quality of inverters in the last decades, due to
over breakdown starts the amount of sunlight that experienced manufacturers [11]. The problems related
reaches the cell will be limited.As a result there is a to inverters are important for the inverter behavior and
reduced output current in a cell. keep track of failure incident rate.
The discoloration of the EVA layer is the main Apart from the periodic and adequate preventive
reason for reduced output. Discoloration occurs due to maintenance, these type of equipment’sare often
two main reasons: subjectto corrective high complexity actions. Such
1. Interactions between cross-linking peroxides systems are implementedby specialized technicians and
and stabilizing additives, they consists of the following:
2. Due tooxidation of the EVA layer.  Assembling the replacement parts;
The next cause of degradation is due to Meta stable  the repair of components;
dangling bonds. Meta stable dangling bonds result due  Actions to be taken at the programming
to the exposure of silicon cells to sunlight [3].The machine and automata levels in code and
solution to Meta stable dangling bonds is removing appropriate language.
them, but removing them needs the silicon cells to be The advantage of distributed generation can be
heatedto a high temperature. The idea of heating cells obtained, instead of centralized generation by using grid
to remove Meta stable dangling bonds is not practical. connected plants.The MVcontrol equipment cells consists
The dangling bonds capture electrons, and hence of circuit breakers and other protection equipment.
reduce the electrical output and in turn the efficiency of Transformers are needed in the interface between
the cell. The photovoltaic components life expectancy inverters and medium voltage (MV) distribution. [12-16],
are shown below: due to low voltage from inverter.
 Solar Modules: up to 30 years.
 Inverters: up to 15 years for small plants; 30 IV. CONCLUSION
years with 10% of part replacement for every
10years. In this work an analysis of the
 Structure: roof-top structures 30 years and mostcommondegradation issues for the solar power
ground mount structures between 30 to 60 plants has been done. Malfunctioning of any parts of
years. the pv plant may affect the output supply from a plant.
 Cables: 30 years. Monitoring of the solar power plants to check the
malfunctioning or degradation of any part of the solar
III. FAILURES OF ASOLAR PLANT power plant will increase the performance of the solar
power plant.
As per data of 1991[2] around 10% degradation per
year was recorded. The advances in the solar
technology show 12% degradation for 25 years. The

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