TY - GEN
T1 - Simulating module anti-reflection coatings with SunSolve
AU - Yu, Zhengshan J.
AU - McIntosh, Keith
AU - Abbott, Malcolm
AU - Sudbury, Ben
AU - Holman, Zachary C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021/6/20
Y1 - 2021/6/20
N2 - Anti-reflection coatings are used on 92% of today's module glass to reduce the front-surface reflection and increase the power output of the module. Currently, most anti-reflection coatings are designed to maximize transmittance at normal incidence to improve the power output at standard test conditions. However, in the field, where the meteorological conditions vary widely in time and space, it is not clear whether a maximum power gain at standard test conditions leads to maximum energy yield. Here, we use SunSolve Yield, a ray-tracing software, to investigate the optimum anti-reflection coating design by simulating the energy yield from a PV system under real-world conditions. We found that manufacturers could immediately provide a 0.3% increase in energy yield relative to their products today by simply increasing the ARC thickness by 20-40 nm thicker.
AB - Anti-reflection coatings are used on 92% of today's module glass to reduce the front-surface reflection and increase the power output of the module. Currently, most anti-reflection coatings are designed to maximize transmittance at normal incidence to improve the power output at standard test conditions. However, in the field, where the meteorological conditions vary widely in time and space, it is not clear whether a maximum power gain at standard test conditions leads to maximum energy yield. Here, we use SunSolve Yield, a ray-tracing software, to investigate the optimum anti-reflection coating design by simulating the energy yield from a PV system under real-world conditions. We found that manufacturers could immediately provide a 0.3% increase in energy yield relative to their products today by simply increasing the ARC thickness by 20-40 nm thicker.
KW - anti-reflection coating
KW - energy yield
KW - forecasting
KW - porous silica
KW - silicon module
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115937744&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85115937744&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9519015
DO - 10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9519015
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85115937744
T3 - Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
SP - 1192
BT - 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021
Y2 - 20 June 2021 through 25 June 2021
ER -