Behavioral data of thin-film single junction amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic modules under outdoor long term exposure

Data Article Behavioral data of thin-film single junction amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic modules under outdoor long term exposure Sofiane Kichou a, n , Santiago Silvestre a , Gustavo Nofuentes b , Miguel Torres-Ramírez b , Aissa Chouder c , Daniel Guasch d a MNT Group, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC) BarcelonaTech, C/Jordi Girona 1-3, Campus Nord UPC, 08034 Barcelona, Spain b IDEA Research Group, University of Jaén, Campus de Las Lagunillas, 23071 Jaén, Spain c Univ. M'sila, Fac. Technologies, Dep. Génie Electrique, BP 166 Ichbelia, 28000 M'sila, Algeria d Departament d'EnginyeriaTelemàtica, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC) BarcelonaTech. EDIFICI VG1 (EPSEVG), Avda. Víctor Balaguer, 1, 08800 Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain article info Article history: Received 29 December 2015 Received in revised form 19 January 2016 Accepted 19 February 2016 Available online 27 February 2016 Keywords: Light-induced degradation (LID) a-Si PV modules Stabilization period abstract Four years' behavioral data of thin-film single junction amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic (PV) modules installed in a relatively dry and sunny inland site with a Continental-Mediterranean climate (in the city of Jaén, Spain) are presented in this article. The shared data contributes to clarify how the Light Induced Degradation (LID) impacts the output power generated by the PV array, especially in the first days of exposure under outdoor conditions. Furthermore, a valuable methodology is provided in this data article permitting the assessment of the degradation rate and the stabilization period of the PV modules. Further discussions and interpretations concerning the data shared in this article can be found in the research paper “Characterization of degradation and evaluation of model parameters of amorphous silicon photovoltaic modules under outdoor long term exposure”(Kichou et al., 2016) [1]. &2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dib Data in Brief http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2016.02.055 2352-3409/&2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.12.054 n Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 93 4017491; fax:þ34 93 4016756. E-mail address: kichousofi[email protected] (S. Kichou). Data in Brief 7 (2016) 366–371 Specifications Table Subject area Renewable energy More specific subject area Photovoltaic systems, a-Si PV module degradation analysis Type of data Excel table, Matlab figures How data was acquired –DC voltage and current are recorded at the SMA™Sunny Boy SB1200 inverter input. –The in-plane irradiance comes from a Kipp & Zonen™CMP21 pyranometer. –Two Pt 100 resistive thermal detectors (RTD) are used as module temperature sensors being glued to the rear surface of the PV modules. Data format Analyzed Experimental factors N/A Experimental features Data were taken at 5-min intervals from onsite measurements Data source location Jaén university (Spain), Latitude: 37°47 0 14.35 00 N,Longitude: 3°46 0 39.73 00 W, Altitude: 511 m Data accessibility Data is within this article Value of the data  The shared data may be useful to understand the behavior of thin film single junction amorphous silicon (a-Si) photovoltaic modules based technology deployed under outdoor conditions.  Understanding the behavior and the characteristics of the a-Si PV modules are essential to improve the reliability of this PV modules based technology and selecting the best technology for the appropriate climatic conditions.  The methodology used in this data article is valuable for determining the performance and estimating the degradation period of PV modules. 1. Data The shared data describes the behavior of the amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film PV modules deployed under outdoor conditions from July 2011 to December 2014. The actual DC output power generated by the PV array versus filtered values of irradiance (GZ700 W/m²), delimited by two boundaries defined as initial and stable PV array DC output powers for the second semester of each year along the experimental campaign are presented in Figs. 1–4. The rest of the data figures can be found in the Supplementary material included in this article. Table 1 illustrates the empirical equations obtained by the Linear Correlation Approach (LCA) applied to the real PV array DC output power permitting the identification of the degradation and stabilization period. 2. Experimental design, materials and methods 2.1. Photovoltaic system description The PV system providing the experimental data support presented within this article, is installed in Jaén situated in a dry and sunny inland site, with a Continental-Mediterranean climate. A detailed description of the PV system as well as the climate characterization can be found in [1]. S. Kichou et al. / Data in Brief 7 (2016) 366–371 367 2.2. Methodology The a-Si PV modules present light-induced degradation (LID) due to the Staebler–Wronski effect (SWE) [2–4]. Several works have been conducted in attempt to explain the real performance characterization of the a-Si PV modules when deployed outdoors. Fig. 1. Array DC output powers evolution from July 2011 to December 2011. Fig. 2. Array DC output powers evolution from July 2012 to December 2012. S. Kichou et al. / Data in Brief 7 (2016) 366–371368 The degradation rate assessment can be based on the comparison of the monitoring outdoor performance with initial indoor measurements taken as references [5,6], or by applying Linear Regression (LR) and Classical Seasonal Decomposition (CSD) methods with temperature correction [7,8]. Fig. 3. Array DC output powers evolution from July 2013 to December 2013. Fig. 4. Array DC output powers evolution from July 2014 to December 2014. S. Kichou et al. / Data in Brief 7 (2016) 366–371 369 The data presented in this article were analyzed using the technique proposed by Hussin et al. [9], this method permit assessing the degradation of PV modules exposed under outdoors conditions in terms of power line transition in between two boundaries indicators; Predicted initial and stabilized data values of PV array DC output powers. To avoid problems of uncertainties caused by low values of irradiance due to the presence of shading, a data filtering process is needed, as explained in [1]. The predicted initial and stabilized data values depend on the measured plane-of-array irradiance (G), module temperature (T c ), and can be calculated by using the following equations: Pdc init ¼N s :N p :Pm init :η:G eff :1þkv:ΔT  :1ki:ΔT  ð1Þ Pdc stab ¼N s :N p :Pm stab :η:G eff :1þkv:ΔT  :1ki:ΔT  ð2Þ Table 1 Monthly empirical equations based Linear Correlation Approach (LCA). Sample no. Month Empirical equation R 2 Gradient 1Jul-11 Pdc¼0.824 Gþ30.5 0.993 0.824 2Aug-11 Pdc¼0.799 Gþ39.6 0.982 0.799 3Sep-11 Pdc¼0.797 Gþ44.7 0.987 0.797 4Oct-11 Pdc¼0.802 Gþ26.7 0.982 0.802 5Nov-11 Pdc¼0.801 G6.01 0.941 0.801 6Dec-11 Pdc¼0.748Gþ24 0.878 0.748 7Jan-12 Pdc¼0.755 Gþ1.67 0.941 0.755 8Feb-12 Pdc¼0.712 Gþ16.4 0.963 0.712 9Mar-12 Pdc¼0.727 Gþ19.5 0.983 0.727 10 Apr-12 Pdc¼0.727 Gþ26 0.987 0.727 11 May-12 Pdc¼0.723 Gþ47.7 0.966 0.723 12 Jun-12 Pdc¼0.762 Gþ30.6 0.974 0.762 13 Jul-12 Pdc¼0.774 Gþ81.6 0.968 0.774 14 Aug-12 Pdc¼0.779 Gþ25.5 0.973 0.779 15 Sep-12 Pdc¼0.785 Gþ43.9 0.985 0.785 16 Oct-12 Pdc¼0.765 Gþ39.5 0.978 0.765 17 Nov-12 Pdc¼0.770 Gþ8.71 0.941 0.770 18 Dec-12 Pdc¼0.721 Gþ25.6 0.916 0.721 19 Jan-13 Pdc¼0.708 Gþ22.5 0.958 0.708 20 Feb-13 Pdc¼0.699 Gþ22.4 0.978 0.699 21 Mar-13 Pdc¼0.696 Gþ21.5 0.979 0.696 22 Apr-13 Pdc¼0.689 Gþ41.5 0.965 0.689 23 May-13 Pdc¼0.717 Gþ31.1 0.984 0.717 24 Jun-13 Pdc¼0.711 Gþ44.8 0.953 0.711 25 Jul-13 Pdc¼0.747 Gþ38.8 0.977 0.747 26 Aug-13 Pdc¼0.754 Gþ41.5 0.980 0.754 27 Sep-13 Pdc¼0.747 Gþ51.3 0.987 0.747 28 Oct-13 Pdc¼0.760 Gþ28.2 0.973 0.760 29 Nov-13 Pdc¼0.753 Gþ65.8 0.877 0.753 30 Dec-13 Pdc¼0.702 Gþ25.8 0.932 0.702 31 Jan-14 Pdc¼0.677 Gþ39.9 0.972 0.677 32 Feb-14 Pdc¼0.705 Gþ9.83 0.968 0.675 33 Mar-14 Pdc¼0.685 Gþ21.7 0.982 0.685 34 Apr-14 Pdc¼0.704 Gþ25.4 0.983 0.704 35 May-14 Pdc¼0.718 Gþ26.1 0.979 0.718 36 Jun-14 Pdc¼0.720 Gþ31.3 0.980 0.720 37 Jul-14 Pdc¼0.734 Gþ26.9 0.978 0.734 38 Aug-14 Pdc¼0.752 Gþ20 0.986 0.752 39 Sep-14 Pdc¼0.764 Gþ19.2 0.986 0.764 40 Oct-14 Pdc¼0.754 Gþ20.8 0.981 0.754 41 Nov-14 Pdc¼0.750 Gþ11.9 0.964 0.750 42 Dec-14 Pdc¼0.721 Gþ13.5 0.945 0.721 S. Kichou et al. / Data in Brief 7 (2016) 366–371370 G eff ¼G G n ð3Þ ΔT¼T c T n ð4Þ where Pdc init is the predicted array DC power referred to initial (W), N s and N p are the number of modules connected in series and parallel respectively, Pm init is the initial measured peak power of PV module (Wp), kv and ki are the voltage and current temperature coefficients respectively provided in the manufacturer’s data sheet (1/°C), Pdc stab is the predicted array DC power referred to stabilized (W), Pm stab is the stabilized peak power of the PV module found in the manufacturer's data sheet (Wp), η is the efficiency referred to all general system losses which changes between 0.89 in summer and 0.86 in winter months, G n and T n are the reference irradiance and cell temperature respectively under STC (G n ¼1000 W/m 2 ,T n ¼25 °C). 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