Durability and Reliability: a Cross-Technological Stability Analysis of Silicon Photovoltaics

Due to environmental concerns and the depletion of fossil fuels, photovoltaics (PV) is set to play a significant role in meeting future energy demands. For PV technology to be economically feasible, maintaining high efficiency over the typical 25-year lifespan of PV modules is critical. This study examines the reliability of advanced solar cell technologies, namely Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC), Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon), Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HJT), and Back-Contact (BC). Additionally, it compares the durability of different module structures like Glass/Backsheet (G/BS) and Glass/Glass (G/G) under extensive standardized reliability tests according to IEC standards, covering thermal cycling (TC), damp heat (DH), potential induced degradation (PID), light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LETID), and ultraviolet-induced degradation (UVID). The results s how that PERC cells exhibit degradation, with a median decrease of approximately 2.0% and 2.3%, after TC600 and DH1000 stress tests, respectively. BC and HJT cells demonstrate low degradation levels, approximately 1.0%, following post-TC200 conditions. BC technology shows the lowest median degradation, around 1.2%, following DH1000 exposure. TOPCon cells exhibit lower degradation rate under thermal cycling and PID. It is particularly notable that in TC600 a mean degradation of 0.3% was observed, while after 96h of PID test the mean degradation stayed below 0.5%. However, they experience higher degradation under UVID, with a median rate of 1.5%. Regarding LETID, both technologies, TOPCon and BC, exhibit low sensitivity, with median degradation levels of 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. Overall, these results highlight the performance differences between cell technologies and the importance of comprehensive stress testing for informed selection and implementation to enhance the longevity and performance of photovoltaic systems.