Pythagoras Project

Description

Preparing the market for novel polycrystalline thin film photovoltaic generators by means of examination and assessment of field performance.

Financed by

V Programa Marco de la Unión Europea

Coordinated by

Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung (ZSW)

Participants

• Würth Solar GmbH & Co. KG
• Helsinki University of Technology
• Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables, ITER

Abstract

The aim of this project is to prepare the photovoltaic market for the introduction of new polycrystalline thin film technologies of European production.

CIS and CdTe are two of the thin film technologies with the highest efficiency and lowest cost in the production of cells and PV modules. This is why these materials have been selected for this project, in which a research of their yield in open field is essential to introduce them successfully in the PV market. It is expected to evaluate the PV Systems performance in open field in Northern, Southern and Middle Europe.

It will be worked with modules in a standard, fix and inclined way. Moreover, concentration factors of x2 and x3 are going to be used in order to subject panels to an accelerated ageing process in open field.

All the modules are individually connected to a data acquisition system, so that the evolution of each module can be statistically determined.

I-V Curves of Thin Film Panels.