With advancements in technology, the Solar industry has undergone remarkable developments and innovations to ensure a smooth and failure-proof operation of solar plants. While several technologies have impacted the Solar industry by bringing about greater durability, more efficiency, as well as a high return on investment, the use of thermal imaging is one of the most popular choices. This technology provides a fast, simple and reliable method to evaluate the Solar Plant’s performance, both during and after the installation.

Detecting Faults through Thermal Imaging

With an increase in temperatures, the solar panels become less efficient and generate lesser energy. They may even get damaged with some defects causing them to break down or generate a reverse current, which may, in turn, damage the entire Solar Plant. Thermal Imaging can help detect any presence of hot spots on the panels. They can be used to inspect entire solar systems; from panels to connections, fuses, inverters and all components of the system. This makes it substantially easier to detect faults on the panels before they cause any devastating breakdowns.

 

Types of Defects

There are three major types of defects that can be identified using aerial Thermal Imaging:

Module defects: These defects include distinct hot spots formed on the panel cells, diode failures, coating, and fogging issues, junction box heating and dirty or shattered modules.

String and system defects: These defects include wiring issues such as frayed cables and reversed polarity, inverter and fuse failures, and charge controller problems.

Types of Defects

Racking and balance of system defects: These defects comprise of major issues in the mounting and structure of the modules.

Most of these faults result in the formation of hot spots which are caused in places with increased recombination of electrons that release energy. This energy is radiated into space as heat and can be detected through Thermal Imaging.  If left unresolved, these spots can cause excessive heating that may lead to irreversible damage to the defective cell, and subsequently the entire solar panel.

Conclusion

Thermal Imaging enables a swift localization of any potential defects at the cell and module level. It also allows timely identification of possible electrical interconnection problems. Unlike other methods, Thermal inspections can easily be performed under normal operating conditions over large areas without the need for a complete plant shutdown. Thermal Imaging has proven to help improve the Plant’s yield and cost-efficiency.

 

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Bifacial Solar modules can capture sunlight from both sides as opposed to one in case of traditional photovoltaic (PV) modules. This allows bifacial modules to reflect sunlight from behind the panel to increase energy production, with estimates claiming up to a 5-15% jump, depending upon the type of installation.

Bifacial Solar modules for Commercial and Industrial (C&I) applications

In commercial and utility-scale applications, panels are elevated and angled away from the mounting surface allowing light that strikes the ground to reflect back upwards enabling bifacial cells to absorb greater sunlight. Essentially, with bifacial modules, there are now two optimal sun hours (peak hours) of the day opposed to just one because of the dual sides. Thus, generating greater energy yield without having the need to occupy additional space.

In general, surfaces that are lighter in color like fine sand and marble can cause more sunlight to be reflected than darker surfaces like asphalt. Therefore, the use of bifacial panels in sandy deserts can generate maximum energy output.

Bifacial PV module is the new buzz word in the Solar industry and seems like a promising technology for 2020. Other than the energy production benefits, bifacial modules also come with sleeker aesthetics and versatile system designs.

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I-V curve tracing offers a quick and reliable method for assessing the true performance of Solar PV modules and traditional string inverter systems. The technique is especially utilized by Solar PV installers for real-time module monitoring and performance evaluation.

How does it work?

I-V Curve Tracing is a method of electrically testing the PV module and photovoltaic array and ensuring that it performs at optimum level. This test can be conducted at any time during the manufacture, installation, commissioning, performance and troubleshooting phase to ensure productivity. A device, called the I-V Curve Tracer can be installed for this purpose, which measures current and power as a function of voltage. This test can be applied on individual strings and the captured results can be compared to expected results for any variation.

I-V Curve tracing helps in determining the optimum combination of current and voltage to maximize yield as illustrated in the figure below. The red line depicts maximum output achieved through the best combination of current and voltage whereas the dotted line shows reduced output which may be a result of several factors such as a module mismatch, soiling, and more.

What are the Benefits Of I-V CURVE TRACING?

Some key benefits of I-V Curve Tracing include:

Lower risks during startup and commissioning
Thorough system performance baselines
Effective and expedited troubleshooting
Better performance modeling
Detailed testing reports and analytics
Reduced system downtime
I-V Curve Tracing can also help in detecting module faults such as shading, soiling, series resistance and module mismatch. Immediate identification of these issues can allow technicians to make timely array layout adjustments, repairs and warranty claims.

I-V Curve Tracing is currently one of the most comprehensive methods of testing PV modules and strings to regulate and optimize the performance of each array in the PV system.

 

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