IV measurements: Strings and modules

PVD offers diagnostics & quality control services for solar

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Procurement 3rd party factory inspection of modules

Team of IITBombay
5+ GWof
graduates & Industry
Veterans diagnostics since
2017 Post EL image-based quality check to identify
Transportation transportation damages; Insurance support

Post commissioningstudy; PR Test; Technical

Post Installation supervision during installation
Experts in module Focus on
tech, design and performance
Health check-up of plant; performance
operations improvement Diagnostics improvement strategy

Technical Due Health check-up of the plant for risk

Diligence assessment, performanceprediction

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Our portfolio of customers

ClientsOnboard:

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IV measurements: Strings and modules

Introduction

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IV measurement technology

The I-V (current-voltage) curve of a PV string (or module) describes its power conversion
capability at the existing conditions of irradiance and temperature. The curve represents
the combination of current and voltage at which the string could be operated or
“loaded”, if the irradiance and cell temperature are held constant.

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Need of IV measurements on-site
As the PV arrays are exposed to environment and other on-site factors, they become susceptible to
various degradation mechanisms leading to their under performance. Some of these degradation
mechanisms include module cracks, snail trails, thermal failure, PID, soiling losses, etc.

Since IV curve tracers capture all the operating points of current and voltage of PV source, they are
individually capable of identifying the symptoms for under performance of the PV system

How?
When a measured IV curve differs significantly in height, width or shape from the predicted IV
curve (based on model IV curve), after adjusting it to STC conditions of irradiance and temperature,
the nature of deviations provides clues about the possible performance setbacks.

Additionally, EL Imaging provides visual evidence of the suspected defects in the module

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Basics about IV curves
Acronyms
• Voc – Open-circuit voltage of the module
• Isc – Short-circuit current of the module
• Vmp – Voltage at Maximum power point of module
• Imp – Current at Maximum power point of module
• FF – Fill factor ((Vmp*Imp)/(Voc*Isc))
• Pmax – Maximum power point of the module = Vmp*Imp

While observing IV curves

• IV curve is drawn between the current and voltage parameters. The multiplication of these parameters gives the power of the
module.
• The highest power corresponds to the maximum power point of the IV curve
• The red dots shows the Voc, Isc and MPP (Vmp, Imp) as per the datasheet while the green dots represent the actual STC
translated values.

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Potential Induced Degradation

Parameter Value
Voc 35.11
Vmp 26.43
Isc 7.55
Imp 6.28
Pm 166.11
FF 62.7%

EL Image of PID affected module IV curve for the defective module

• Potential Induced degradation impacts the open circuit voltage and Imp and Vmp (maximum power point of current and voltage) of the module.
• PID creates a shunt path inside the PV cell and thus impacts both power (voltage and current) and fill factor
• Higher PID means high number of cells affected due to PID. In the EL image, the affected cells look dark since they are shunted. This means that the cell
generates the power in sunlight but due to its shunt path, it itself consumes the power.
• Self power consumption rate depends on the PID severity.
• Due to its self power consumption, target Voc is not achieved. Shunt resistance impacts the Vmp and Imp of the module, thereby reducing the Pmax
(maximum power) from its target value.

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Multiple cracks in PV module

Parameter Value
Voc 36.77
Vmp 30.43
Isc 5.02
Imp 3.26
Pm 99.31
FF 53.8%

EL Image of multiple cracks and high loss in active area of IV curve for the active area loss of PV module
module cells
• Bypass diode gets activated during IV measurements if any string have different current value from other strings (generally, there are three diodes inside
the PV module). These diodes can be activated during any internal cell issue or obstacles from outside like shadow or uneven dust deposition on PV
module glass.
• This bypass diodes activation is evident in the IV curve, identifying inherent defects and/or obstacles

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Diode failure in PV module

Parameter Value
Voc 23.9
Vmp 18.2
Isc 7.88
Imp 7.09
Pm 128.8
FF 68.3%

EL Image of diode failure IV curve for diode failure

• Diode failure in above module signifies that the module diode has been shunted (Shunt means a direct path for the current)
• In case of diode shunt failure, related module’s sub-string also gets shunted and no current is passing from that sub-string which is evident from the EL
image (only 2/3 sub-strings of the module are visible) and IV curve of the module (Voc reduced to around 2/3rd value).
• The resultant module Voc shifts as shown in the figure
• Pmax of the module decreases by atleast 1/3rd of the total Pmax of the module

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Solder failure in PV module

Parameter Value
Voc 44.71
Vmp 22.01
Isc 8.70
Imp 6.26
Pm 137.78
FF 35.42%

EL Image of solder failure IV curve for solder failure

• Solder failure is a manufacturing defect and it caused by the increment in series resistance of the module
• Increment in series resistance impacts the Vmp of the PV module and hence there is a difference in Pmax.
• Other reasons for increment in series resistance are corrosion, loose connections, bad connector quality, moisture ingression, etc.

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PVD capabilities

Service portfolio include IV

Successfully concluded 100+ measurement of strings (1500V
Analysed 4,00,000+ IV curves
projects and 1000V system) and
modules

Ability to present future

Experts from premium performance predictions and
institutes with cumulative Capability to deploy 4-5 teams concerns roadmap with some
industry experience of 100+ parallelly additional testing sets
years in solar industry
*Additional tests depends on the initial results

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We not only collect the data and share it with the
client. Our key strategy is to take IV curves with
IEC compliant methodologies with standardized
data collection procedure. This fulfills our main
objective of providing detailed insights from the
data collected and list out possible reasons of
underperformance.

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IV measurements: Strings and modules

Our team

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Our Team
Prakash Suratkar is the CEO at PV Diagnostics. He has the experience of 700 MW+ of factory line audit. He has worked as a
General Manager at Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd. and was responsible for mc-Si solar cell/ module engineering and
technology, Equipment Engineering, and Process Engineering. His area of expertise include microwaves, optoelectronics,
microelectronics, photovoltaics, fiber optic communication, IC packaging, RF, and Mobile communication. He has published
10 papers in solar photovoltaic technology.

Atul Kumar Jain is the COO at PV Diagnostics. He has completed his B.Tech. & M.Tech. in Microelectronics from IIT
Bombay. He has 4 years of experience in advanced product development, cost optimization, reliability and quality
assessment, thin film product inspection, failure analysis, and module rework in photovoltaics. He has worked formerly
worked with Solar Semiconductor (now RenewSys) as part of the reliability team. He has led operations at PVD for more
than 5 GW MWp of solar assets in quality control and diagnostics.

Pranav Maheshwari is the Head of Technology at PV Diagnostics. He has completed his B B.Tech. & M.Tech. in Energy
Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay. He has personally worked on more than 1 GW assets and has also conducted
inline and pre-shipment inspection Bifacial mono-perc modules in Heliene factory, Mountain Iron (USA). He has also
conducted pre-shipment inspections of modules in India at major factories: Waaree, Vikram, Emmvee, etc.

Ayush Mahajan is the CTO at PV Diagnostics. He has completed his B.Tech. & M.Tech. in Energy Science and Engineering
from IIT Bombay. He has worked at kWatt Solutions as Vice President, Business Development and has also co-founded an
energy auditing advisory firm providing analysis to execution solutions.

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Our Advisors

Eric Daniels is the Managing Director at Suncycle, USA and CEO of Field Energy Ops. He worked as Regional President, Solar
Energy North America at Bosch and is also former Vice President, Technology and CTO at BP Solar. He also served as Director,
Product, Utilities & Industrial Marketingat SiemensSolar and as VP, Technology and Strategic Marketingat Westinghouse.

Vinay Kumar P is a renewable energy professional with ~20 years of experience as a developer, asset manager and investor.
He had also worked as MD and CEO India Renewables at Brookfield Asset Management and COO at Greenko Energies Pvt.
Ltd. He is an IIT Madras graduateand a former IRS officer. He has lead operations at Greenko from 10 MW to 1+GW.

Reyad Fezzani has 30 years of experience as a global energy executive, an entrepreneur, an active board member, and an
investor. He has particular expertise in leading and developing companies, and a passion for strategy, sustainability,
technology, and people. He has completed his Masters in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London. He is a
Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the ICHEME, the Energy Institute and Institute of Materials, Minerals, and MIning.

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IV measurements: Strings and modules

Thank you.

Address: PV Diagnostics, c/o WeWork Chromium

Nr L&T Gate No. 5, JVLR Andheri East, Mumbai 400072, India
E-mail: ayush@pv-diagnostics.com
www.pv-diagnostics.com