Outdoor monitoring of the energy yield and electrical parameters of standard polysilicon based and new umg-Si PV modules

Solar cells made of silicon based on upgraded metallurgical routes (umg-Si) are becoming a real option to the standard polysilicon-based multicrystalline (mc-Si) devices. A lot of research at wafer and cell level has been carried out so far. However, there is little experience in real operation conditions of PV modules based-on umg-Si feedstock and few of these studies have been published up to present.This work presents a comparative study between typical mc-Si and umg-Si modules, manufactured following exactly the same wafer-to-module procedure and evaluated in real outdoor conditions. The results after eight months of exposition to outdoor conditions show a very close energy production for both types of modules. Due to their lower cost and similar performance, modules made from umg silicon feedstock are a more economic option and could play an important part in the photovoltaic market.