Pretty stressful – PID trials on the test bench

To find out whether a module is susceptible to potential-induced degradation, you can conduct stress tests in a climate chamber. These tests are designed to induce potential-induced degradation and reach stress levels at or beyond what a module would likely experience in the field. That is what the standard says, at any rate. But researchers at Germany’s Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research have now confirmed long-standing doubts about the reliability of the standard test for highly stressed modules in 1,500 V power plants. One solution is tougher testing and better materials selection.