A procedure for assessing the reliability of short circuited concentration photovoltaic systems in outdoor degradation conditions

• Method for assessing the reliability of concentration solar cells.
• Correlation between performance degradation and sun seasonal variations.
• Correlation between electrical parameters degradation and technological aspects.

A procedure for assessing the reliability functions of photovoltaic concentration (CPV) systems, subjected to outdoor degradation, will be described in this work. The evaluation of the concentrator cells failure rate, the understanding of the origin of these degradation modes and how they affect the performances of concentration cells is an essential step to improve their reliability and to accelerate their competitiveness. The reliability evaluation methodology introduced here, as the cells are deployed outdoors and then are subjected to the actual sources of stress (e.g. ambient temperature, solar concentrated irradiance, cells working temperature and the variations of these parameters over days and seasons), will furnish values of failure rates very close to the true ones.