Featured in Beyond solar – 08-2023

A 10 GW time bomb

It is estimated that 10 GW of solar modules in Germany suffer from prematurely aging backsheets, with sites of all sizes affected. pv magazine Germany’s Cornelia Lichner looks at how to detect and repair such defects.

By

Cornelia Lichner

25 Jul 2023

If the back foil tears, it is only a matter of time before the stability of a module fails completely. | Photo: Bernhard Weinreich, HaWe Engineering

Holger Schultheiß suspected what the installer inspecting his 11-year-old roof-mounted solar system last fall would find. Neighbors had experienced the same problems with inverter failure and strings staying offline.The rear of the modules displayed checkerboard cracks, some visible from the front. Moisture in the panels caused leakage currents to flow between positive terminals and the …

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