Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society ISSN:1598-6411(Print) 2508-3562(Online) 한국태양에너지학회 논문집

Worldwide, there is increasing interest in carbon neutrality, and policy institutions are taking steps to address climate change. The international community has recognized the seriousness of this problem and has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The government of South Korea has also set a national goal of reducing emissions by 40%, compared to 2018 levels, by 2030. However, the current IEC 61215 standards for testing and certifying silicon solar cells do not include complex tests for environmental factors, such as sunlight or artificial light sources, temperature, humidity, and electrical characteristics. Thus, the currently used tests are not fully representative of the actual outdoor field environmental conditions, and stress factors, such as temperature, humidity, amount of ultraviolet radiation, rain, and wind are not considered in the testing process. In this study, we present an accelerated test model that simulates real outdoor field environmental conditions and can reduce the absolute testing time by applying a complex test rather than a single IEC test. In the study, five different tests were carried out: Damp Heat, Thermal Cycling, Humidity Freeze, Light Induced Degradation, and Ultra Violet, based on IEC 61215, as well as a PID test based on IEC TS 62804-1. The accelerated test refers to DIN75220, a German industrial standard. Actual field environmental conditions were simulated, and output degradation rate data similar to the existing IEC standard were obtained by applying an artificial light source, temperature, and humidity complex tests. In addition, an accelerated test that can shorten the time by approximately three times, compared with the IEC test, was conducted. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that an accelerated test in which the stress factors act similarly to the external environment will also be useful in future photovoltaic reliability tests.