Indoor and outdoor solar panel testing capabilities established by Australia’s CSIRO are now accessible to PV researchers and industry.
Developed with the support of $1.3 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), the new facilities enable different solar panels and cells to be assessed as to how they respond to Australian conditions over the short and long term.
Solar panels and systems are rated based on measurements in a laboratory under standardised conditions and the nameplate power rating may not accurately reflect the energy the system will deliver over time under Australian conditions.
For example, the standard temperature for testing is just 25C – far lower than what many panels will endure under the harsh Aussie sun. As temperatures increase, panels lose performance and the degree of power generation loss can vary wildly between brands. A major variance can also occur under cloudy conditions.
These can become major issues for large scale and commercial solar power operations where the effects can have a major impact on yields and profitability.
“Effective forecasting is particularly important for investor confidence and risk mitigation as the cost of new plants is mostly up-front,” said ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht.
“Knowing how the panels should perform allows solar PV system design to be assessed, and the quality, health and degradation of systems to be tracked over time.”
The indoor laboratory will enable researchers and industry to independently measure solar cell efficiency against international standards. The outdoor lab, which measures the impact of different weather conditions and solar radiation levels, boasts the most advanced solar ground measurement station of its type in Australia.
“These notable achievements will further Australia’s enviable position in solar PV research and strengthen the case for utility scale solar PV plants and rooftop installations,” said Mr. Frischknecht.
During the 32-month development of the PV Performance Laboratory, data was analysed from 59 solar panels from 17 different manufacturers, including a dozen different PV technology types.
Specialised software tools were developed and the indoor laboratory was granted IEC 17025 technical competency accreditation – the first PV laboratory to achieve this in the Southern Hemisphere.
CSIRO says it now has a framework for predicting the impact of solar spectral variations for sites right across Australia.
Source: ARENA
