PV System Failures - Temperature & Installation Effects
This video was produced when the laboratory operated as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The laboratory is now the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR). In this study, we analyzed the annual performance and performance-relating comments of 100,000 PV systems in the USA totaling to more than 7 GW capacity. Inverters were the most common failure cause, but other balance-of-system components such as meters, fuses, breakers, and wires raise concerns about installation quality and best practices. More inverter failures occurred in higher temperature zones at the utility-scale. Residential and commercial type systems are influenced by inverter orientation and location. Installation best practice of mounting inverters in shaded areas reduced the probability of failure. Module failures were low but the effect of underperforming modules may not have been fully captured. Trackers show an increased failure rate in higher wind speed areas.