Outdoor performance stability and controlled light-soak testing of amorphous silicon multijunction modules at NREL

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been testing amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic (PV) modules for more than a decade. NREL has been conducting controlled light-soak testing of multijunction a-Si modules to characterize their performance for stability evaluation as well as to benchmark the technology status. Some of the test modules, after controlled light-soak testing, have been installed outdoors. The authors have observed that under outdoor exposure, the modules further degrade in performance, possibly due to lower outdoor temperatures and varying spectra. The paper presents data on the light-induced degradation for the third controlled light-soak test on multijunction a-Si modules as well as outdoor performance data on single- and multijunction modules under prevailing conditions.