Assessing the Trends in Module Field Failures

Identification of field defects and failures has been used to develop accelerated stress tests providing guidance for designing and manufacturing improved modules. Since this is a feedback loop, we expect many of these historic failure modes to be disappearing. This paper will assess the historic failure modes to identify those that are likely to have minimum impact in the future. It will then identify failure modes that are likely to become more prevalent in the near future. Finally recommendations will be made to the PV industry on how to avoid having these potential failure modes become major issues in the future.