Solar glass with industrial porous SiO2 antireflection coating:: measurements of photovoltaic module properties improvement and modelling of yearly energy yield gain

An industrial sol-get process to coat solar glass with a porous SiO2 antireflection (AR) layer has been recently developed. This paper presents the first detailed study obtained on sets of commercial multicrystalline silicon solar cells encapsulated with patterned low-iron glasses, with or without this AR coating. Measurements under standard test conditions (STC) show a current gain of 2.65% with the AR glass, whereas an additional current gain is obtained at high light incidence angle. Based on the mini-module results and on the outdoor monitoring of test modules to evaluate temperature effects, simulations were performed to asses the yearly photovoltaic energy yield gain at different locations. A significant energy yield increase of 3.4-3.7% is expected with the new AR glass. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.