![\"PVEL](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pvel-2021.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
At the moment we’re locked down in Adelaide.\u00a0 Because I’m no longer able to smuggle badgers across the border in my beard as I’d planned, I’m catching up on stuff I should have written about weeks or months ago.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
One of these things is the PVEL 2021 Module Reliability Scorecard report that came out in May.\u00a0 While I’ve been tardy bringing it to your attention, it’s far too interesting to let slip by. <\/p>\r\n
PV Evolution Labs — PVEL<\/a> for short — tests solar panels to determine how tough they are.\u00a0 Those that do well are likely to survive decades without failing.\u00a0 Every year they publish a report<\/a> in which they reveal the top performers, while not giving any information on which panels performed poorly.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n While they don’t tell which panels failed, knowing which manufacturers make panels that are tough enough to pass is still useful information.\u00a0 In this article, I’ll give a rundown of the tests they perform and tell you which manufacturers had at least one panel model in the “Top Performer” category.\u00a0 These are panels that only suffered 2% or less deterioration in output from torture tests simulating decades of exposure to the elements.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n I’ll provide a table at the end showing which manufacturers had at least one model of panel pass the torture testing.\u00a0 But this table isn’t as useful as it could be, because we don’t know whether or not panels that didn’t get a good result were tested at all.\u00a0 It only provides evidence solar panels classed as Top Performers are good quality and not evidence that panels that aren’t in that category are bad.\u00a0 In other words, being a Top Performer is good, but not being one doesn’t mean much.<\/p>\r\n Before I describe the different tests and the results, I’ll provide some interesting information from the start of the report.<\/p>\r\n The report introduction gives information on…<\/p>\r\n 35-Year-Old Encapsulant:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> A solar panel is a solar cell sandwich.\u00a0 The slices of bread are the glass cover and plastic backsheet, while the solar cells are the filling.\u00a0 It’s all held together by glue that covers, or encapsulates, the solar cells.\u00a0 This is why it’s called the encapsulant.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n If its quality isn’t high, over time the encapsulant will deteriorate and darken, reducing output.\u00a0 In a worst-case situation, crap encapsulant can cause a panel to peel apart.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n The benefit of high-quality encapsulant has been shown by Swiss solar panels that have been in use for 35 years.\u00a0 That’s longer than the subjective length of my first marriage.\u00a0 Three different formulations were used and the current panel performance is:<\/p>\r\n This graphic from the report shows the very visible difference:<\/p>\r\n The 4.9% decrease in output over 35 years for the best panel is impressively low.\u00a0 That’s little more than \u00a00.1% per year.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Hot Indian Panels:\u00a0 <\/strong>A study of 36 solar farms in India1<\/a><\/sup> showed — on average — those built in the last five years were deteriorating faster than older projects.\u00a0 The average annual deterioration was 1.47% per year, which is more than twice the 0.7% most solar panel performance warranties allow.\u00a0 The deterioration was worse in hot regions and less severe in cold, mountainous areas.\u00a0 Obviously, this isn’t good news for a place like Australia that has a lot more hot than cold.\u00a0 On the bright side, I’d say this lousy deterioration level is most likely due to project managers taking a gamble on low-cost panels rather than good solar panel manufacturers going backwards on quality.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n PVEL puts in a lot of effort to ensure their tests are accurate.\u00a0 For one thing, you can’t just send them panels for testing.\u00a0 It would be far too easy to game the results by sending ones in great shape.\u00a0 But PVEL doesn’t just randomly buy panels to test.\u00a0 Their methodology goes way beyond that.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n What they will do is send auditors to solar panel producing factories, and their job involves:<\/p>\r\n As you can see, the process is pretty involved.\u00a0 It’s also not cheap.\u00a0 The expense is one reason why we can’t know if a panel that doesn’t appear among the Top Performers failed a test.\u00a0 A manufacturer may simply have not wanted to shell out for testing.<\/p>\r\n PVEL has five physical tests they subject panels to:<\/p>\r\n To be considered a Top Performer a solar panel must survive a test while suffering 2% or less deterioration in output.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n At first, I thought his workplace must be really cold to require a turtleneck like that, but then I remembered that places besides South Australia have suffered pandemic<\/a> related problems.<\/p><\/div>\r\n The names of panels that fail aren’t given, but graphs are provided showing how poorly these “no-names” did.<\/p>\r\n An operating solar panel heats up when the sun shines on it and cools down when the light is blocked by a cloud or a planet.\u00a0 If the planet blocking the sun is earth, then it results in a condition known as “night”.\u00a0 But on rare occasions the mini-planet we call the moon gets in the way.<\/p>\r\nInteresting Tidbits<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
![\"Components](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/solar-panel-composition.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n\r\n
![\"Solar](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pvel_encapsulant.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\nTest Methodology<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
The 5 Tests<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pvel_turtleneck_little.jpg\")
Thermal Cycling Results<\/h2>\r\n