pv magazine test: July 2023 Results
By George Touloupas
This article was originally published in pv magazine – July 2023 edition. Learn more about the pv magazine test here.
George Touloupas, Senior director of technology and quality at CEA, looks at the latest energy yield results from our outdoor test field in Xi’an, China.
New products have been submitted to our module testing program, and many take advantage of the latest high efficiency cell technologies. Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) products from Tongwei and DAS have finished lab testing and the results are available at pvmagazine.com.
More bifacial products are expected, as well as high-efficiency monofacial products, so we decided to separate the two for a more meaningful comparison.
Table 1: Bifacial boost - April to July 2023
The average bifacial boost is 11.48%. Bifacial boost is defined as the relative advantage in average specific energy yield of all bifacial products, compared to all monofacial mono PERC products.
Tables 2 & 3: Energy yield ranking - April to July 2023
Figure 1: Daily temperature and irradiance data - July 2023
Figure 2: Relative yield of different technologies - July 2023
Figure 3: Specific energy yield of bifacial and monofocial modules - July 2023
Energy yield measurements
The energy yield comparison, including bifacial boost, will be analyzed with products installed after the beginning of 2019.
Yield is given in Wh/Wp and calculated by dividing the energy produced by the Pmax at STC. This Pmax is the maximum STC power after stabilization.
The results are grouped in categories, per module type.
The bifacial boost depends on many parameters: the bifaciality factor, the installation geometry, the albedo of the ground, and the sun angle and diffuse irradiance. The ground in this case is gray gravel.
Test Cooperation
pv magazine test is a cooperative effort involving pv magazine, APsystems, CEA, and Gsolar. All testing procedures are carried out at Gsolar’s test laboratory in Xi’an, China. CEA supervises these tests and designed both the indoor and outdoor testing procedures.