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Big and Bigger: The opportunities and challenges of large-format modules

The past few years has seen an amazing amount of solar module innovation. One of the biggest trends is literally about bigness—the emergence of the large-format, high-power module. With peak power ratings already well over 500 watts (and pushing toward 600 watts and beyond), these mega-modules are made possible by another photovoltaic technology trend: the transition beyond 72-cell modules featuring 156-/166-mm cells, to larger modules using cleverly manipulated 182- and 210-mm slices of silicon. Manufacturers have implemented cell-splitting, shingling and tiling, multi-busbar architectures, and dense cell-to-cell interconnect schemes (as well as bifacial technology) to drive up the power output in these supersized modules. Although these larger modules are just starting to be shipped at volume, market research firms predict they will dominate the utility-scale solar market within a few years.

Large-format modules present several opportunities and challenges for developers, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, and operations and maintenance (O&M) providers. This article will examine some of the issues around the new big modules from the perspective of all three business sectors.

Anything New Means There’s a Learning Curve

The new larger form factor and higher wattage of these modules will mean that everyone – designers, developers, owners, and financiers – will need to ensure all the implications have been considered. One key issue is compatibility; for example, optimizers may have voltage limitations. It will also be crucial to determine whether the larger modules are pushing amps in a way that requires upsizing wires, combiner boxes, and other balance of systems components. In addition, there’s the question of possible warranty implications. Specifically, whether using large-format modules will have any impact on the warranties of other components in the project, such as mounting systems that may not have been wind-load tested or certified for the larger modules.

More Power Means Lower Costs

The main advantage of these large-format modules is straightforward: the higher power output per module allows a reduction in the required balance of system (BOS) and electrical BOS components and, most importantly, lower installation costs – to the tune of several cents per watt. Simply put, it means fewer modules to ship (and in the case of 182-mm modules, more watts per shipping container), fewer modules to mount on fewer trackers or fixed-tilt racks (and more watts per tracker row), and fewer strings to connect to achieve the same installed capacity of the power plant. Plus, fewer systems to operate and maintain once the plant is up and running. The result? Decreased capital expenditures, lower levelized cost of electricity, and higher net present value, all of which has developers and asset owners excited.

From a developer-owner’s perspective, there is additional risk any time a new technology is introduced, whether it’s in terms of financial bankability, higher insurance premiums or simply the durability and performance of the module. While Tier 1 manufacturers have (mostly) good track records when it comes to quality and reliability, it’s early days in terms of real-world power generation numbers from the mega-modules, let alone degradation, failure rates, or other field performance data. Given the larger surface area of the modules, there could be concerns with cell microcracking or susceptibility to extreme weather events such as damaging winds, hail, or snow loads.

Site Design Advantages and Tradeoffs

Large-format modules offer a tantalizing opportunity for developers, giving their landowner partners and EPCs more flexibly to utilize and benefit from the project site acreage. A space-constrained site could include additional megawatts of capacity; for many markets and scenarios, this is a worthwhile tradeoff with a corresponding specific yield reduction. This flexibility could also provide transmission system injection benefits when using a solar-plus-energy storage system equipped with large-format modules.

Site designers will need to factor in the increased module size in how they lay out the tracker rows, increasing the spacing between the mounting structures to keep the same ground-cover ratio (GCR), if that is their goal. Large-format modules do allow for a boost to the system’s DC kilowatts by increasing the GCR, while maintaining reasonable construction and O&M access (typically about 10 feet between rows).

One cannot assume that large-format modules can just be swapped in on trackers, since the tracker rows might become too long for the available north-south dimensions of the site. The varied voltage and amperage schemes of different mega-modules will require close attention to the electrical elements of the system design—a midstream change in module procurement choice could trigger a DC wiring redesign. Larger tracker structures may also translate into the need for bigger, deeper (and costlier) foundations and more robust, smarter systems that can handle the added dynamic wind-load potential. Be prepared to account for permitting issues if the height of the modules on a fully rotated tracker exceeds a typical 15-foot maximum height zoning requirement.

Less Complex O&M

From an O&M perspective, mega-modules will mean less plant complexity, fewer parts to inspect, maintain and manage, and more efficient plant operations. Since labor makes up the biggest chunk of O&M costs, savings could be significant over the lifetime of the plant.

Given the large variety of module sizes and electrical characteristics coming to the market and the lack of standardization so far, the larger modules do present some O&M challenges. For example, how easy will it be to get proper replacement modules—under warranty or otherwise—in the future? The issue of inadequate supplies of spare modules already dogs many existing solar plants, and could become even more acute when the mega-module era ramps up in earnest. Taller tracker arrays may also require some additions to the onsite O&M toolkit—and hard costs in the contract—as boom-lifts will be needed to service the big modules.

Large-format modules offer a pathway to significant savings on the development, construction, and operations of utility solar power plants. Their rapid adoption into new project designs will help accelerate the clean energy transition.

Data Credit:
https://www.borregoenergy.com/

Home Utility Scale Solar & energy storage company, offering EPC, O&M, development & approach for IPPs, utilities, commercial energy users.

In the last two years, the 210mm wafer has emerged as the clear frontrunner in cell size innovation. It has displaced the previous 156.75mm standard that represented more than 90% of the monocrystalline market, and offers advantages in power output that have allowed module power ratings to exceed 600 W from a 60-cell PERC module.

In an industry where cost is everything, the increase in production capacity brought about by large-size products–reducing the cost of labor, depreciation, and operating, management and financial expenses per unit of output–has promised to significantly cut balance of system costs and the levelized cost of electricity.

Yet, as modules change in size and form factor, ripple effects are felt across the entire solar industry, requiring tweaks, modifications, and outright changes to longstanding project development and construction practices.

Mounting and installation
Perhaps nowhere are these adjustments more impactful than in the module mounting world, especially with regards to trackers. Manufacturers have to take into account and adjust for new size dimensions, weights, and environmental and operational variables presented by a newly dominant module size.

To better understand the challenges that larger modules present to tracker manufacturers in both engineering and installation, pv magazine spoke with experts at two of the industry’s leading companies: Cody Norman, director of applications engineering at Array Technologies, and Nick Mattison, product line manager for NEXTracker’s NX Horizon smart solar tracker.

“Larger PV modules result in higher loads,” Norman said. “These loads are primarily on the module support components, but it’s also on the tracker structure and the foundation.”

Increased load on the tracker presents two distinct challenges: dead weight load across an installed row and dynamic weight in severe wind and weather events. Dead weight has an effect on the tracker by limiting how many modules can be supported by the tracker in a row.

“With modules that are significantly longer, significantly heavier, we might not be able to achieve a full 100-meter row length,” said Norman. “There’s some mechanical limitations of having that much mass supported along the tracker.”

Row-length limitation has been an issue for NEXTracker, one that the company is still working to conquer, said Mattison.

Wind sails
Both said that the majority of mechanical changes have been pushed by the incident pressures of wind and snow on the module.

Larger modules take wind and snow pressures and turn them into higher forces applied against the module and the tracker structure. This factor has required additional analysis that both companies have had to consider during the design process.

“The modules themselves effectively create a sail,” said Mattison “When you increase the size of that sail, that translates to a lot of extra load.”

To accommodate those forces, Norman said that Array has looked to increase the extent, size, and depth of foundations across the tracker row. It also has turned to using purlins and mounting clamps with more material and more reach.

Wind load is most significant on modules at the end of a row, said Norman. Modules at the exposed end may require additional fasteners to handle the higher wind load forces.

NEXTracker, by contrast, has not added components to bear the static and dynamic loads. Instead, it has opted to “beef up” and reinforce existing hardware, specifically the rails, according to Mattison.

Both said that the tracker drives — the motors which rotate the panels rows to track the sun — were areas of considerable focus. Outside of some adjustments to torque tube layout and position, however, the drives remained essentially unchanged.

Installation strains
As for the installation process, Norman and Mattison both said that it has remained relatively unchanged. The newer, larger modules still require just two workers to install. However, it’s a different story for two-in-portrait (2P) installations where the modules and trackers are higher off the ground.

“You’re managing a module that’s probably five square feet larger and probably 15 pounds heavier, if not more, than what you’re used to working with,” said Norman. “When you’re working well above your head, these heavier, larger modules are kind of challenging to deal with.”

With the exception of 2P installation concerns, Norman downplayed the challenges these tweaks present, framing them instead as a natural evolution of the technology. To him, the biggest challenge was how quickly 210mm wafer modules became standard across the industry.

It’s not as if either Array or NEXTracker was caught off guard by the new module sizes, far from it. Both Norman and Mattison highlighted how closely their companies collaborate with leading manufacturers.

The issue was that any new standardized form factor needs to go through extensive usage testing, extreme weather resilience testing, and project-level consideration to ensure that the trackers and their hardware are compatible with the new modules in every usage case. Having to accelerate these verification processes was an issue that both companies faced but handled well, according to Mattison and Norman.

Mattison said that NEXTracker has had to test compliance for more than 100 modules that make use of the 210mm cell size.

Standardization
One future issue is standardization. Some in the industry are concerned that module sizes will just keep growing and changing as new innovations become financially viable. The worry is that there is a breaking point in terms of size, as having to add a third installer per module would throw a wrench into labor costs and installation times.

Concerns over size variances are real enough that eight prominent module manufacturers, Risen Energy, Zhonghuan Semiconductor, Tongwei, Trina Solar, Huansheng Photovoltaic, Runyang New Energy Technology, Canadian Solar, and Wuxi Shangji Automation, are pushing to standardize 210mm silicon wafers and modules.

“The 600 W+ sizes that we’re seeing, where they’re 2.4 meters long, 1.3 meters wide, 38 kilos, if we start moving past 40 kilos or 1.5 or larger meters wide, it’s just going to be a major sail,” said Norman. “We’re also going to have to start worrying about the mechanical capabilities of the module itself: how much metal is going to be required in the frame to support the load, how much glass is being used and what’s the thickness?”

In late October, Trina Solar said the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) was set to announce a set of standard dimensions for large format modules relying on the 210mm wafer launched by Zhonghuan Semiconductor in 2019.

Having a standard set of dimensions should make thing simpler, and therefore cheaper, for project developers and component suppliers. All of them have to deal with uncertainty over module sizes and electrical characteristics since the switch to larger wafer formats began to play out.

For Mattison, the idea of standardized wafer and module sizes is one that he would support, although he notes that previous standardization efforts have lagged, and that the market tends to settle into a universal size range.

“A year ago, it was all over the place, but it seems to be consolidating down to just a few form factors now,” Mattison said.

Both solar pros predicted that, at least in the short term, innovation in power density will likely shift toward efficiency, as the sector is nearing the apex the size of modules that two workers can install.

“Where we’re at,” Mattison said, “is probably close to where we’re going to be for the next few years.”

Data Credit:
https://www.pv-magazine.com/

pv magazine International: Photovoltaic Markets and Technology Photovoltaic Markets and Technology

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