PV module reliability scorecard?

**JSchnee21** · 06-16-2017, 10:24 AM

Hi Dan,

I have seen the 2016 report before, and downloaded and reviewed the 2017 report earlier this morning. It has pro's and con's. My biggest gripe with this particular report vendor is that the actual scores for each vendor are hidden and all you see is an alphabetical list of the "best" performers.

I general:

1) Kyocera, Qcells, Trina, Solar World, and SunPower (when they get tested) perform well. If you look at the historical reports and other reports from other vendors, Kyocera seems to come out on top very often (across multiple independent reports). But, in terms of market share in the US (and the likelihood of finding a local vendor with a competitive price) Kyocera panels are hard to come by. Though quite a few vendors will do Trina or QCell if you ask. SolarWorld used a be a go to brand, but with the recent bankruptcy, they may not be a good choice going further.

2) Coverage on most of these types of reports is pretty lacking (I assume vendors need to opt-in/pay/provide samples to be included). What I'd really want to see is SunPower, LG, Panasonic, Trina, QCell, SolarWorld, Canadian Solar, etc. go head to head, with rankings for each metric. Similarly, each of these vendors has various models -- do they all perform as well? Has each new version been getting better (aka NeonX, Neon2, NeonR, etc.) OR worse?

I put a lot of faith in the Fraunhofer reports some of which you can get through pv-tech.org (or Googling around) for free. If you're not familiar the Fraunhofer Society is a very widely regarded research institute across a wide area of scientific and engineering disciplines.

Homepage Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

https://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, headquartered in Germany, is one of the world’s leading organizations for applied research. It plays a major role in innovation by prioritizing research on cutting-edge technologies and the transfer of results to industry to strengthen Germany’s industrial base and for the benefit of society as a whole. Since its founding as a nonprofit organization in 1949, Fraunhofer has held a unique position in the German research and innovation ecosystem. With nearly 32,000 employees across 75 institutes and legally independent research units in Germany, Fraunhofer operates with an annual budget of €3.6 billion, €3.1 billion of which is generated by contract research — Fraunhofer’s core business model. Unlike other public research organizations, base funding from the German federal and state governments is merely the foundation for the annual research budget. This serves as the basis for groundbreaking precompetitive research that will become important for the private sector and society in the years ahead. Fraunhofer’s distinctive feature is its large share of industry revenue, guaranteeing close collaboration with the private sector and industry, and the consistent focus of Fraunhofer’s research on the market. In 2024, industry revenue accounted for €867 million of its budget. Fraunhofer’s research portfolio is augmented by competitively acquired public-sector funding, pursuing the right balance between public-sector and industry revenue.

If you actually pay money for the reports, usually you get to see all of the vendor names (at least that's how it work in my profession of scientific instrumentation). But I never purchased on the of the Fraunhofer (or other's) reports to see.

-Jonathan

PV module reliability scorecard?

PV module reliability scorecard?

Comment