Field inspection and analysis program that tracks material degradation and its effects on solar module performance shows that the number of site inspections grew from 275 in 2018 to 355 in 2019.
The number of panels surveyed increased from 4.2 million to over 6.5 million (1.04 GW to 1.8 GW), DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials (DuPont) said in its annual Global Field Reliability Study.
— Overall module defect rates increased since 2018
— Total module defects: 34 percent
— Total backsheet defects: 14 percent
— Backsheet defects increased 47 percent from 2018
— Cracking comprises 66 percent of all backsheet defects
— The number of fields grew from 275 to 355
— The number of panels increased from 4.2 million to over 6.5 million (1.04 GW to 1.8 GW)
— Overall module defect rates increased since 2018
— Backsheet defects increased 47 percent.
There was a sharp increase in backsheet defects after 4 years for competing module materials, yet Tedlar defects stayed at a low 0.04 percent.
Tedlar PVF film-based backsheet maintains the lowest defect rates – even after 35 years in the field.