Welcome to the Homepage of JRP ENG55 / PhotoClass

Note: The project was completed in April 2017.

The final reports can be found here

Background

The photovoltaic (PV) world market volume is approximately 50 billion Euros per year. PV devices are sold according to their output power as measured under standard test conditions (STC). These conditions represent a cloudless sunny day in the middle of the USA, with an artificial and unrealistically low device temperature. The climate conditions in Europe differ significantly from this and since device efficiency depends on a combination of device properties and the environmental conditions, the current peak-efficiency metric leads to inaccurate estimates of the energy generated under real operating conditions. Hence a classification of PV devices regarding their energy production is urgently needed.

 


Need for the project

The photovoltaic world market volume was about 50 billion Euros in 2012. Thus every percent uncertainty in energy yield estimation leads to a financial uncertainty of 500 million Euros. The current efficiency and peak power characterisation under STC does not allow for differentiation according to the most relevant parameter in the marketplace which is energy production under specific climatic conditions. This is particularly relevant in Europe where PV systems of different technologies are operated in a wide range of climatic conditions.

 

Follow-up projects

Opens external link in new window16ENG02 PV-Enerate - Advanced PV Energy Rating (May 2017 - September 2020)

Opens external link in new window19ENG01 Metro-PV - Metrology for emerging PV applications (September 2020 - expected to end in August 2023)