A photovoltaic module in an outdoor single-axis tracking, utility-scale field experienced a backsheet burn that exposed the rear of the cells and started a grass fire. The opening in the backsheet developed due to increased heating where the busbar wires stringing the cells together were offset from their original solder pad locations. Several other examples of similar backsheet burns were found at this installation, and some cases also show that thermal stress caused the front glass to crack and shatter. Photoluminescence, electroluminescence, and thermal imaging techniques document the module performance and cell damage. Ultraviolet fluorescence provides time-dependent information to distinguish an older cell crack that developed with the backsheet melting from a newer crack that formed during the arc flash fire event and a scrape likely from handling to remove and transport the module. Microscopy analysis identifies the metal composition of the solder as tin/lead and not a bismuth-containing low-temperature variety. Laser isolation of a cell contact area with misaligned wire shows intermittent contact quality, suggesting the module likely passed factory screening and showed no high contact resistance prior to aging in the field.

Rear interface passivation on submicrometer Cu(In,Ga)Se<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> (CIGS) solar cells through nanopatterned dielectric layers has enabled performance gains. The combined optimization of the rear contact interface and the absorber properties enables high-efficiency ultrathin CIGS solar cells. However, the absorber quality of a standard thin 2000 nm CIGS has not been suitably maintained in absorbers with thickness values around 500 nm. Establishing an optimized Na doping, absorber crystallinity, and bandgap profile on such submicrometer CIGS solar cells has been challenging. Moreover, the Na doping may also be influenced by the rear contact architectures implemented in passivated solar cells, e.g., affecting the diffusion of Na from the soda-lime glass. Nonetheless, a proper Na supply into CIGS is critical for an optimized absorber quality. Therefore, this study evaluates the impact of the amount of Na supply controlled through a NaF precursor layer on a rear passivated ultrathin CIGS solar cell. The NaF layer thickness leading to the best performance solar cells in this study, attributed to high absorber crystallinity and low ordered vacancy compound content, is lower than that used in standard thin 2000 nm cells. It suggests that the transition to ultrathin solar cells is not straightforward, and the cell architecture influences the conditions to reach the optimum absorber properties.

Today, as the most well-developed photovoltaic (PV) technology, silicon-based solar cells still dominate the PV market. In order to further maximize the power output of the PV modules, it is vital to cut the full solar cells into half-size cells. An increase of 3% in overall power output can often be seen for the half-cell PV modules. However, the solar cell splitting process, which is usually conducted by laser cutting, inevitably causes structural damage and power conversion efficiency loss to the cut cells. The overall performance of the cut solar cell is greatly dependent on the laser cutting scenario. How the laser cutting parameters, such as cutting technique and cutting direction influence the performance of the solar cell is still under debate. In this work, commercial efficient N-type TOPCon solar cells were subjected to laser scribe and mechanical cleaving and thermal laser separation from different cutting side, respectively, to comprehensively investigate the effect of laser cutting procedures on the overall performance of the cells.

2-D MXene materials have gained significant attention as flexible electrode materials in the field of photovoltaics due to their excellent electronic, optical, and plasma properties. Nb<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub>CT<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> is a 2-D material belonging to the family of MXene. In this study, we prepared a series of ZnO/Nb<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub>CT<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> composite films with different concentrations of 0.05 wt%, 0.10 wt%, and 0.20 wt% as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The champion power conversion efficiency of 6.35% was obtained at the Nb<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub>CT<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> concentration of 0.10 wt%, which is nearly 40% higher than the efficiency of pure ZnO-based device (4.56%). The results show that the introduction of Nb<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub>CT<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> is beneficial for electron transport and suppresses the recombination of electrons and holes, thereby the photoelectric properties of DSSCs have been improved.

This work is focused on a solar photovoltaics (PV)-based onboard charger using reconfigured motor windings. In the proposed scheme, the motor windings and traction converter switches form a three-phase interleaved buck converter (IBC). The IBC is interfaced with the solar PV and acts as the maximum power point tracking converter. The IBC reduces the current ripple at the battery side and improves the battery cycle life. Through IBC, a large amount of current at the battery side is paralleled in three inductors of the IBC, which reduces the <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small>-state losses in the switches and copper loss in the inductors. Therefore, it is possible to increase the power level of the onboard charging system as high as that of the propulsion system with enhanced compactness of the system while reducing the cost. Moreover, the applied control strategy reduces the current sensor requirements in IBC and eliminates the proportional–integral controller, which is another major advantage of the proposed system compared to conventional control of the IBC. Furthermore, the switches are subjected to zero current switching. Finally, the real-time experiment of the proposed system was accomplished using the OPAL-RT platform for 6 kW of charging power.

The grid-connected sizing of a photovoltaic (PV) power plant system aims to determine the equipment and components necessary to operate and integrate PV panels into an on-grid system with compatibility, efficiency, affordability, and reliability. In this context, this article proposes a new three-stage optimization-based framework for the grid-connected sizing of a PV power plant. In Stage 1, the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-means clustering algorithm is utilized to determine the placement and dimensions of the inverters, as well as the number of strings and the arrangement of PV modules in strings. During Stage 2, the DC wiring is sized to facilitate the connection between the PV strings and the inverters. Finally, in Stage 3, the AC wiring is sized to connect the inverters to the power substation. Stages 2 and 3 are formulated as mixed-integer linear programming problems to minimize investment costs and reduce AC power losses. The framework is implemented using different tools and libraries, including Quantum Geographic Information System for geospatial panel placement, Python libraries such as scikit-learn for clustering, and Pyomo for modeling the optimization problem of Stages 2 and 3 with the Gurobi solver. A real-world case study of a PV power plant located in Brazil, which covers an area of 13 000 m<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> and a nominal power of 1.2 MW, is used to validate the proposed framework. The results demonstrate the robustness, feasibility, and scalability of the proposed methodology.

The amount of electricity generated by a solar panel varies according to the installation location and chosen mounting structure. This changes the effective material consumption and the associated effective carbon emissions of electricity produced by each solar panel. This article investigates the impact of different photovoltaic (PV) mounting systems on energy yield, material consumption, and carbon emissions, focusing on the key configurations of fixed-tilt (FT), east–west, and single-axis tracking systems. As global PV capacity rapidly expands, understanding the sustainability of these systems is crucial for decarbonizing the electricity sector. We highlight the impact of different mounting systems on yield at different latitudes and demonstrate that the effective material consumption can vary by over 30% in terms of both g/Wp and g/kWh, along with the impact on carbon emissions in terms of both gCO<inf>2-eq</inf>/Wp and gCO<inf>2-eq</inf>/kWh. Pathways to reduce the carbon footprint in gCO<inf>2-eq</inf>/kWh by up to 60% compared with the FT baseline case are also discussed, including incorporating green steel and decarbonized concrete.

The rapid expansion of photovoltaics is driven by significant reduction in costs. However, given the surface requirements for photovoltaic development, utilizing water surfaces for floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems presents a promising solution. To enhance the cost-effectiveness of these systems, bifacial modules and tracking systems can be employed. While numerous experimental studies have evaluated the performance of fixed-configuration FPVs, floating tracking configurations remain underexplored. In addition, various simulation tools offer insights into different configurations, but their different assumptions often yield inconsistent results. This study focuses on the experimental evaluation of a horizontal axis tracking bifacial FPV (HT-bFPV) system. Over one year, the HT-bFPV system was monitored at the FPV test bed of “Enel Innovation Hub & Lab” in Catania, Italy. The experimental results were compared with simulated outcomes using two software tools, to assess their precision in calculating the HT-bFPV performances. The results reveal that the module temperature of the HT-bFPV system is 3 °C to 6 °C lower than the temperatures calculated by System Advisor Model and Photovoltaic system software, respectively. The yearly reference yield of 2139 kWh/kW produced a final yield of 1801 kWh/kW. The yearly performance ratio of the HT-bFPV system was 0.86, which improved by 1.8% when adjusted for temperature. The simulation results closely matched the experimental data, validating the system's performance. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the HT-bFPV system can produce up to 13.3% more energy with more potential in sites with higher latitudes compared with a similar fixed system.

Methods for fully characterizing the harmonic injection amount of distributed photovoltaic grid connection and combining harmonic constraints with other constraints to accurately evaluate the hosting capacity of photovoltaic integration into distribution networks are of great significance as they ensure the safe and stable operation of distribution networks. Therefore, a novel hosting capacity evaluation method for distributed photovoltaics (PVs) connected in a power system based on the maximum likelihood estimation of harmonics (MLE) is proposed in this study. First, using the likelihood function from the MLE method, the harmonic parameters of distributed photovoltaic injections are optimally estimated, allowing for the accurate assessment of harmonic outputs during photovoltaic grid connections. Furthermore, a harmonic partitioning method is devised; it characterizes the connection degree between nodes in the grid-connected system, and it divides the distribution network into regions. The scenario number in the estimation of hosting capacities is effectively reduced. Finally, a comparison is carried out relative to the conventional hosting capacity. The assessment method proposed in this study considers the harmonic access in the actual distributed PV grid-connected system. An improved harmonic partitioning method is established based on the harmonic injection amount. The evaluation of PV hosting capacities in the region ensures accuracy and reduces calculation times. They provide references for the access capacity of the distribution network.