Long-term reliability for output of plastic integrated concentrator photovoltaic module under outdoor operation

We developed a plastic-integrated concentrator photovoltaic (PIC) module and evaluated the long-term reliability of the PIC module with two concentrator solar cells; one is a conventional Ge-bottom subcell triple-junction solar cell, and the other is a 1-eV-bottom subcell triple-junction solar cell under outdoor operation. The daily energy yield of the PIC module with Ge-bottom subcell slightly decreased in the summer season. Moreover, the 1-eV-bottom subcell triple-junction solar cell is expected to be more affected by the solar spectrum change due to the increased precipitable water vapor in the summer season. The impact of spectral change on the output performance of the PIC module is continuously discussed by actual measurement data.