38
40th IEEE PHOTOVOLTAIC SPECIALISTS CONFERENCE
TECHNICAL AREA OVERVIEWS
AREA 9 OVERVIEW
PV MODULES AND MANUFACTURING
Chair: Pierre Verlinden, Trina Solar, China
Co-Chair:
Joshua Stein, Sandia National
Laboratories, USA
Area 9 Description
Advances in PV module engineering and manufacturing
have been remarkable and their impact in lowering levelized
cost of energy (LCOE) is significant. The world requires
safer PV modules with more embedded services, including
safety switch disconnect, ground-fault protection, monitoring
services, maximum power point (MPP) trackers, power
optimizers or micro-inverters. New materials for PV modules
are introduced on a regular basis and require new testing
methods for characterization. New assembly technologies
are proposed. PV module modeling is getting more
sophisticated including mechanical, thermal and electrical
models, sometimes combined. Customers require better
energy prediction and energy rating of the modules. Papers
that describe advancement in PV module design, technology
and modeling to improve cost, safety, energy performance,
monitoring, are sought in this Area. This Area also presents
papers related to improvements in manufacturing along the
entire production chain of PV, from raw material to modules,
including automation, inline monitoring, statistical process
control, manufacturing plant design, cost models and cost
prediction.
Sub-Area Chairs
Annelene Dethlefsen (Schmid, Germany), Chris Deline
(NREL, USA), Scott Norquist (3M, USA), Cliff Hansen
(Sandia, USA), YingBin Zhang (Trina Solar, China)
