Difference in the outdoor performance of bulk and thin-film silicon-based photovoltaic modules

Differences in the outdoor performances of bulk (multi- and single-crystalline Si) and thin-film (amorphous Si(a-Si), a-Si/micro-crystalline Si and a-Si/a-SiGe/a-SiGe) photovoltaic (PV) modules are analyzed. The influence of module temperature and solar spectrum distribution on the PV output is clarified. The PV outputs almost only depend on module temperature in bulk-type Si PV modules while that depend both module temperature and spectrum distribution in thin-film ones. Also, the PV outputs of the bulk-type Si PV modules at most frequent condition at outdoor are lower than that at the standard test condition; in contrast, it was the other way round for thin-film ones. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.