Anti-Reflective-Coating Tuned for Higher Solar Module Voltage

Author

Neander, Marcus ; Gromball, Frank ; Neumann, Dirk ; Harder, Nils-Peter ; Nositschka, Wolfgang Andreas

Author_Institution

R&D Glass for Buildings, Saint-Gobain Glass Deutschland, Herzogenrath

Volume

2

fYear

2006

fDate

38838

Firstpage

2070

Lastpage

2072

Abstract

The use of a low absorbing extra-white solar module cover glass increases the light transmission to the solar cell. Due to lower absorption over a broad wavelengths range, a low-iron extra-white glass has a significantly higher energy transmission than normal window glass. Specialized solar-grade high-transmission glasses covered with an anti-reflective coating (ARC) shows a further increase in module efficiency in the order of 2,5-3%. Besides the increased short circuit current due to increased transmission an additional advantage of a ARC is presented: a decrease in heating of the solar module during light exposure due to observed increase in reflectance for the longer wavelengths results in higher open circuit voltage of approx. 1 %

Keywords

antireflection coatings; glass; light transmission; silicon compounds; solar cells; thin films; SiO₂-Si₃N₄; antireflective coating; energy transmission; light transmission; module efficiency; open circuit voltage; reflectance; short circuit current; solar cell; solar module; solar-grade high-transmission glasses; thin film materials; Circuits; Coatings; Glass; Photovoltaic cells; Reflectivity; Refractive index; Semiconductor thin films; Silicon; Solar heating; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on

Conference_Location

Waikoloa, HI

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0017-1

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0017-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279910

Filename

4060076