Vientiane monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules

In late 2020, IEA PVPS released an updated LCI for PV systems that contains updates for crystalline silicon PV technology reflecting the year 2018, while some information, such as the amounts of auxiliary materials, are still based on 2011 .

Existing PV LCAs are often based on outdated life cycle inventory (LCI) data. The two prominently used LCI sources are the Ecoinvent PV datasets, which reflect crystalline silicon PV module production in 2005, and the IEA PVPS 2015 datasets, which reflect crystalline silicon PV module production in 2011.

The PV module is under a partial shaded condition, where one cell is under 20, 30, 50, and 80 % shading. However, the characteristics of P–V are simple with only one MPP in the case of 20 % of cell shading. However, complex P–V characteristics are observed with multiple MPP when the shade cell reaches 50 %.

In this research, partial shading influences on the efficiency of photovoltaic modules are explored. First, mathematical modeling of the Mono-crystalline PV module in case of various irradiation levels is presented. A performance assessment of a PV module by considering the electrical influence of the partial shading are then presented.

With a carbon footprint of 420–810 kg CO 2 -eq/kW p and 13–30 g CO 2 -eq/kWh (excluding BOS), this study shows that current sc-Si PV modules are indeed a low-carbon pillar of the energy transition, emitting even less carbon than previously expected.

This approach diverges from IEA PVPS Task 12's approach for regional inventories in their 2015 LCI, which models European MG-silicon production with Norwegian electricity and European polysilicon purification with a high share of hydropower but applies the average Chinese electricity mix throughout the entire Chinese production chain.