PID Reversal Sample Report

PV-D offers diagnostics & quality control services for solar

AboutUs Our services across solar value chain

Procurement 3rd party factory inspectionofmodules

Team of IIT Bombay 3.3+ GWof
graduates & diagnostics since
Industry Veterans 2017 Post EL image-based quality check to identify
Transportation transportation damages; Insurancesupport

Post commissioningstudy; PR Test; Technical

Post Installation supervision duringinstallation
Experts in module Focus on
tech, design and performance Health check-upofplant;performanceimprovement
operations improvement Diagnostics strategy

Technical Due Health check-upof the plantfor riskassessment,

Diligence performanceprediction

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Our portfolio of customers

ClientsOnboard:

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 High power loss and system defects highlight quality importance
Underperformance in plants across the country The defects indicate poor quality control

Rajasthan - 5 years old

Utility Scale

MP - 5 yearsold ~30%

~22% ~7%
Gujarat - 6 years old

UP - 2 yearsold Moduleswith Modules Soldering

Cracks with PID Defects
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Rooftop plants

Maharashtra - 7 yearsold

Maharashtra - 2 yearsold
Termination issuesat Structural issues EarthingIssues
Inverter, SCBs and
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10%12%14%16%18%
Transformer
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As lenience in quality across the value chain becomes evident

Procurement Post Transportation Installation & Operations Preventive

Commissioning maintenance

Excessive soiling,
Lack of skilled Lack ofpro-active
Leniency inquality looseconnections,
Improper packaging manpower & testing for fault
standards lack of negative
improper handling identification
grounding

Modules with soldering Modules with back-sheet Walking on modules PID caused due tomissing Modules with diode failure
defect suggests problem scratch could be due to during installationcan or non-functional negative connected in strings can
manufacturing process poor packaging or induce cracks grounding lead to hot spots and high
handling mismatch losses

Damages during installation or early years of operation can have significant impact on generation through-out the lifecycleof the plant

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Note: EL imaging: Electroluminescence imaging that helps in identifying defects in modules
Common BOS Problems

Temperature difference between terminationsat Inverters, Under performance of inverterswhich cannot be analyzed in
SCBs and Transformers requiring immediate replacement generation dataanalysis

Improper maintenance and lack of knowledge about

Looks basic, but plant Drainage system designing has been
geographical conditionscan accelerate corrosion in different
seen to be neglected at many sites
components impacting longevity of plant life

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PID Reversal

Sample report

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PID and PID Reversal Process
Potential Induced Degradation (PID)
PID occurs when the modules are exposed to high negative voltage with respect to the ground. PID happens in ungrounded PV systems and is
more prominent near modules towards the negative end of the string, exposed to negative potential with reference to ground.
The main causes of PID are:
• Migration of positive ions from the glass plate through the EVA and ARC to the cell. The presence of these ions causes an effective shunt path
across the cell and reduces the output
• Buildup of the negative potential of a cell w.r.t encapsulation and support structure due to earthing of the frame
• The main promoters of PID are temperature and humidity

PID Reversal process

A PID reversal tool is installed to address this issue on the plant. This box is installed between the PV array and the inverter. It senses the PVarray
voltage. If the voltage is higher than a set threshold, the voltage is not applied. At night, when the PV array voltage falls, then a DC bias voltage is
applied between the array and ground, and controlled depolarization current flows from the semiconductor to the ARC, glass encapsulation, the
frame, and the mounting structure. This way, the PID effect is reversed gradually. Float Controllers can be used with any crystalline-Si modules
which have been diagnosed to be suffering from PID.
Project Background
• PVD was appointed by xx (hereinafter referred to as “Customer”), to conduct the diagnostics study of 15 MWp solar power plant owned and
operated by xx (“Company”) in the state of Gujarat, India.
• PVD team conducted diagnostics study of the plant and found higher degradation in modules.
• One of the major reason for higher degradation was PID. To mitigate the PID level in modules, PVD recommended customer to install PID
reversal tool in one of the inverters on sample basis.
• PVD team installed the PID reversal tool for 126 days. Measurements were taken after the installation and a comparison was done to
estimate the gain from PID reversal
• Result of this study is mentioned in following slides
Executive Summary
Plant Overview
Capacity of plant (MWp) 15

Plant commissioning date 8 years

Expected degradation at module level 8.66%

Overall measured average module degradation 17.2%

Observation
During EL analysis, major occurrence of PID was observed in Inverter A. PID onset was observed in inverter B and C, though number of modules
affected by PID are very less.

Recommendation
Following recommendations to reverse and arrest PID from further escalation:
• Rotation of PID reversal tool to inverters affected by PID. Rotation strategy and number of reversal tools can be formulated once all the
inverters having PID are identified
• During rotation, when inverters are not connected with PID, modules will be susceptible to PID. Hence negative grounding should be done
• Sample module IV and EL measurements (25 samples/inverter) should be carried out in all inverters to find out which inverters have PID.
On-site PID Reversal Implementation
EL image number Pmax
Combined EL image Number % Pmax
before PID Pmax(Before) Pmax(After) Improvement % Voc Improvement
Module ID after PID reversal Improvement
reversal (Wp)
• PID mainly affects Voc of the
module.
• It also affects curvature of IV
curve. Improvement in
curvature can be seen in the
coming slides

• 5.19% average improvement in Voc

with respect to Voc of the module
before PID reversal
• 9.03% average improvement in
power with respect to Pm of the
module before PID reversal
PID Reversal

Sample modules

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PID Reversal sample 1
PID Reversal sample 2
PID Reversal sample 3
PID Reversal

Our Team

Address: PV Diagnostics, c/o WeWorkChromium

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

Prakash Suratkar Pranav Maheshwari Atul Jain Ayush Mahajan

Chairman & CEO Head ofEngineering COO CTO

• 20+ years of • VP, Quality • R&D Engineer at • VP, Business

experience in Assurance, KWatt Renewsys with development,
Past work experience

Solar R&D, Solutions experience solar cell KWattSolutions

multiple manufacturing
• Experience in • Co-founder,
publications solar power plant • Head for R&D and Pivotal Power
• Former GM at design & Systems Design, Solutions, an
TATA BPSolar engineering KWatt Solutions energy auditing
• Former CEO, and advisory firm
KWatt solutions

B.Tech. and M.Tech in B.Tech and M.Tech B.Tech. and M.Tech.

Education

M.Sc. inPhysics
from Mumbai Energy Systems and in Micro Electronics in Energy Systems
university Engineering from IIT from IITBombay and Engineering
Bombay from IIT Bombay
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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

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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PID Reversal

Thank you.

Address: PV Diagnostics, c/o WeWorkChromium

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