Characterization and Reliability of Photovoltaic Module for Hot Environments

Dear Colleagues,

Solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation is expected to contribute significantly to the decarbonization of energy supply by 2040. New emerging markets and developing countries will likely play a key role in achieving the expected supply of several thousands of TWh in the next decades (Jäger-Waldau, A. Snapshot of Photovoltaics, February 2020. Energies 2020, 13, 930), most of these countries are either in the Tropical Region (India, Brasil, and Mexico; Southeast Asia; and Central and East Africa) or in the Desert Region (Arabic peninsula and North Africa). These regions account for almost half of the total world’s population (worldpopulationreview.com): large investments in solar energy are ongoing there nowadays and expected to grow.

PV deployment at the projected scale in these regions is challenging due to their challenging environments, a varied combination of high humidity (tropical climate), dry climate and soiling (desert climate), high temperature and UV radiation (both), and salt mist (coastal areas of both climates). Such environmental conditions are only partially taken into consideration in the international standards for PV module qualification, which is historically targeted at continental climates.

To address the needs of PV stakeholders and solve these challenges, the Editorial Board and the Guest Editor of this Special Issue of Energies welcome submissions from scholars, researchers, investors, and manufacturers worldwide, aiming to improve the characterization methods, reliability, and safety of both modules and material and system components for hot environments. Contributions are expected to cover (but are not limited to) topics like the characterization and evidence of module or system failures under operations at high irradiance, temperature, humidity, or UV; the effect of soiling and how to qualify module against it or mitigate it during operations; Potential Induced Degradation (PID) and Light and Elevated Temperature Induced Degradation (LeTID); salt mist; and extended or combined accelerated stress testing for module and components.

Dr. Mauro Pravettoni
Guest Editor

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