RESEARCH PAPER
Reliability characteristics of first-tier photovoltaic panels for agrivoltaic systems – practical consequences
1
Department of Economic Theories, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
2
Department of Quality and Dependability of Machines, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
3
Department of Electrotechnology, Czech Technical University in Prague, Technicka 2, 16627 Prague, Czech Republic
4
Department of Mathematics and Physics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
5
Manager, Solarmonitoring, Ltd., Podebradova 275, 43923 Lenesice, Czech Republic
Final revision date: 2024-07-20
Acceptance date: 2024-08-08
Publication date: 2024-09-06
Corresponding author
Martin Libra
Department of Mathematics and Physics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic
Department of Mathematics and Physics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic
Int. Agrophys. 2024, 38(4): 383-391
HIGHLIGHTS
- Weibull analysis was used for determining the PV panels reliability.
- Data from many large PV power plants were analyzed.
- The operating time to failure is lower than manufacturers declare
KEYWORDS
photovoltaicsfirst-tier photovoltaic panelagrivoltaicsreliability characteristicsWeibull analysisphotovoltaic power plant service expenses
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
A vast majority of PV panel suppliers declare a PV panel lifetime in the range of 20-30 years (typically 25 years). Our data from long-term monitoring of many PV power plants indicate that first-tier PV panels at many PV power plants, in moderate climate, start to fail after about 10-12 years. Compared to standard PV systems, the agrivoltaic systems are exposed to extraordinary influences of agriculture like dust, humidity, vibrations, fertilizers etc. Our studies compare the quality of PV panel components within last 25 years. We performed long-term monitoring of 85 PV plants, including agrivoltaics, worldwide too. PV panel failures within strings cause subsequent damage to multistring inverters. As inverters are more expensive than the PV panels, the total expenses for PV panel and PV inverter replacement are growing quickly after 10-12 years of the PV power plant operation. Hence, it is very important to study the reliability characteristics of PV panels to predict their real lifetime and to predict PV power plant service expenses.
FUNDING
The research was funded by the internal research project, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, IGA 2024: 31160/1312/3107.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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