Lifetime and performance alteration of photovoltaic panels, the case of Aerzen,Germany

Abstract

Solar energy is unlimited, flawlessly, sustainable and among of the most preferred renewable energysource. The rapid development and the increasing demand in solar energy technologies provided anincreasing the production and played an important role for reducing costs. Thousands of manufacturersaround the world produce solar panels however solar panels are also exposed to aging during theirlifetime. This aging of the solar panel is generally expressed by the manufacturers as 10% generationperformance loss in 10 years and 20% in 25 years. However, solar panel technology is not a very oldtechnology and these statements on aging are in need of confirmation. So, in this study, the data of asolar power plant that has been operating for about 13 years has been examined in detail and the sameplant has been modeled with numerical programme for the case of Aerzen, Germany. Panel aging wasdiscussed by comparing the simulation data with the experimental data.