Recovery of Photovoltaic Potential-Induced Degradation Utilizing Automatic Indirect Voltage Source

Potential-induced degradation (PID) of photovoltaic (PV) modules is one of the most severe types of degradation in modern modules. PID can affect crystalline silicon PV modules, and while extensive studies have already been conducted in this area, the understanding of how to recover PID is still incomplete, and it remains a significant problem in the PV industry. In this article, an electronic circuit that can mitigate the impact of PID in PV modules is utilized. This was achieved by inducing the PV string of 1000 V when a threshold current of 100 mA is detected. A microcontroller was used to manage the current sensor data and actuate the whole circuit. The impact of the proposed circuit on PID affected PV modules are: 1) improve the electroluminescence regeneration; 2) increase the output power by up to 30% of newly PID affected modules, and up to 7.8% for old modules; 3) reduce their temperature, known by hotspots; and 4) despite the variations in the solar irradiance and temperature, the recovery of the PID can be obtained within 15 days or less.