Joule publishes Dr. Ian Marius Peters' paper on the value of stability
The latest techno-economic analysis by Dr. Ian Marius Peters and his co-authors on the value of stability in photovoltaics was just published in Joule.
In this article we explore the implications of adopting a long-term perspective about PV installations. At the end of the designated lifetime of a PV system, which is often assumed to be 25 or 30 years, many PV modules still operate at high fractions of their initial power. Economically, there is no reason to discontinue the operation of such modules, and even less so from a sustainability point of view. Here, we introduce an economic model for PV operation that assumes perpetual operation with maintenance at regular intervals. When adopting such a long-term view, we find that greater investments for keeping the installation in good shape pay-off compared with a mindset with limited lifetime. We also find that module stability becomes more important for economic evaluation. Inferior stability cannot be compensated by lower module prizes and can only be compensated by much higher efficiency. Finally, we predict that modules installed today should be operated for 50 years before they are replaced.
Read the full article here.
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Dr. Jens Hauch
Abteilungsleiter Teamleiter "High Throughput Materials and Devices"
Room 1.12
Dr. Ian Marius Peters
Gruppenleiter "Hochdurchsatz Charakterisierung und Modellierung für die PV"
Room 2.3