Life-Cycle Assessment of Rooftop Solar PV Generation Using Multi-crystalline and Mono-crystalline Modules

It has been observed that an ever-increasing adoption of rooftop solar photo-voltaic (RTSPV) is based on the manifold advantages offered and is quite important in selecting the appropriate type of PV panel. This paper reports full life cycle assessment (LCA) for RTSPV generation employing both multi-crystalline and mono-crystalline PV modules. This assessment would include calculating important parameters such as Total Embodied Energy (TEE), Energy Payback Time (EPBT), Life-Cycle Conversion Efficiency (LCCE), Capacity Factor (CF), Electricity Production Factor (EPF), and estimating CO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> emission reduction due to RTSPV generation. Intriguingly, the study found that on-grid monocrystalline PV modules have high CF, EPF, and LCCE, and would therefore give net CO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> mitigation more for elevated as well as non-elevated PV structures in Pune, India.