Impact of Modern Cell Photovoltaic Geometries on Power and Energy Loss due to Cell Cracks

Evaluating microcracks for photovoltaic (PV) modules is challenging as there are varying perspectives among different stakeholders. Evaluation typically occurs on cell level and a certain number of cells is deemed permissible in an entire module. Warranty conditions however, are generally based on power loss of the module. There are many observations of power loss being reported in the literature most focus on 2-3 busbar Al-Back- Surface-Field solar cell technologies. This technology has been replaced by a plethora of different cell types with new cell structures (PERC, TOP-Con, HJT), new wafer sizes (M6, M8, M10, M12), increasing number of busbars (4, 6, 9, 12) and contacting schemes (shingling, smart-wires) as well as wafer-fractions (full cell, half-cell, 1/3rd cell). Despite these advancements, few studies have assessed the impact of these on overall power rating of a module. PV modules can exhibit a variety of crack types. A methodology for evaluating cracks developed in the German research project ‘PVRiss’( PV-crack) will be discussed in this study, the aim is to evaluate the worst possible propagation for the different cell types and geometries mentioned above. Subsequently, the impact cracked cells locations within the module is investigated by carrying out a Monte-Carlo simulation of different crack scenarios.