Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has recently finished a five-year solar module degradation study. SNL purchased over 834 modules representing 13 different technologies from 7 manufacturers. They placed them in the three different locations of the field, each representing a different range of climate. The test has also examined the initial power stabilization and degradation rates.
SNL is one of three National Nuclear Security Administration research and development laboratories. Its primary goal is to develop, engineer and test non-nuclear parts of nuclear components and other high technology.
The results
The research showed that 56 percent of the studied systems could produce above 80 percent of electricity at its beginning-of-life stage after 30 years of usage, while 26 percent proved to exceed their warranty limits due to their lower degradation rates.
The SNL has also revealed that lower costs of the solar modules can increase the degradation rate due to cheaper design and materials used in the future. However, the sharp decrease in solar module costs has made solar energy the central part of today’s energy industry.
Nameplate power rating differences ranged from 3.6 percent to 4 percent with initial power stabilization varying from 3.3 percent to +0.6 percent. Flash-over-flash measurements’ performance varied depending on the seasons. Moreover, the module power loss for higher efficiency technologies was driven by Voc degradation. The research also showed that bill of materials also has a significant role in performance even though modules come from the same vendor.

The degradation also depends on various time and seasonal variation in some module types. However, the degradation rates displayed in the research are not that different from the ones measured in the past for more expensive PV modules. Module degradation rates haven’t been affected by the price drops for the samples investigated in this study. This is a very promising result.
Conclusion
Such outcomes prove the longevity of solar energy plants and illustrate the fact that they can serve as a reliable source of energy in a long term perspective. The major challenge remains of balancing the dropping prices with quality and ensuring the most sustainable option for future solar fields.
You might also be interested in:
March 23, 2023
PVcase Academy — a quick way to improve your solar engineering experience
Meet PVcase Academy — an exclusive learning tool for our customers to improve their PVcase experience.
March 7, 2023
Empowering solar engineering with digital twins
On the 24 and 25 of January, PVcase assembled an A-Team to attend the Solar Quality Summit. It was an opportunity for us to organize a workshop on the topic of digital twins in…
February 15, 2023
You asked, we answered: FAQs from PVcase and Above Webinar
We were pleased to meet and hear you in our joint seminar with Above. We provide answers to the most popular questions in our post-seminar FAQ.
February 14, 2023
Uncover the latest solar news: A monthly summary
Let's see what happened in January — the first month of the already eventful 2023.
January 27, 2023
What the solar industry will look like in 2023
2023 will bring some big and exciting changes into the already-thriving solar energy landscape.
January 9, 2023
Renewable energy events: PVcase tips for success
As we reflect our journey as a tech start-up, we want to share some lessons to the newcomers of the industry to pave the way for more exciting solar initiatives.