On Infrastructural Support and Human Resource
Developments for Solar PV Industry
Tai-Ran Hsu, ASME Fellow
Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering
San Jose State University
San Jose, California, USA
www.engr.sjsu.edu/trhsu/
E-mail: tai-ran.hsu@sjsu.edu
Prepared for discussions at
Solar America Forum
Clean Tech Institute, San Jose, California
September 24, 2009
The IC and Solar PV Industry
● A silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) cell is a microelectromechanical
(MEM) device made of semiconductor material
● Several microfabrication processes used for integrated circuits (ICs)
have been adopted for producing silicon solar PV cells.
● 50 years of unprecedented rapid growth of IC technology has boosted its
production to 2 trillion units in transistors, with its applications expanding
from:
Mainframe computers to:
Consumer electronics to:
Personal computers to:
Information technology with Internet to:
Wireless phones and portable devices, and to:
Renewable sustainable ENERGY for years to come
● Solar PV industry thus has a lot to learn from the success of the IC
industry
- In particular, the infrastructure support and HR development
from that industry
A glance at solar PV technology
● Electric power generation by solar PV in the world has shown significant increase in recent years:
Electric Power Generation by Silicon Solar PV
7000
6 GW in 2008
Power Generation, MW
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Year
● A clear trend: Generating capacity of single solar PV power plants has increased dramatically too:
● The largest US power plant in Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada built in 2007
generates 14 MW with 72,000 solar panels
● The PG&E’s Majave Park project will generate 553 MW in 2011
● The First Solar’s plant in Inner Mongolia in China will generate 2 GW power in 2019
● Price for solar PV generated electricity is low, but capital and construction costs are
extremely high (e.g., $100 million to produce 14 MW power at the Nellis Station)
Infrastructural Supports for Solar PV Industry
● The enormous capital and construction costs of solar PV power generation has
made it extremely hard for the solar PV industry to survive without substantial
government’s subsidy and its generous incentives to the consumers
● There appears lack of standards in quality assurance and reliability of
solar PV cells and modules manufactured by the solar PV industry.
These shortcomings will likely lead to significant costs in field operations and
maintenance of solar PV power generating plants years after installations.
● Adequate infrastructural development to the constructing solar PV plants is
a viable solution to mitigate the capital and construction costs
– A good lesson to learn from the IC industry
● The infrastructure supports to the solar PV industry can be classified into
3 categories:
● “Soft engineering” support for manufacturing and installations, and
● Equipment and facilities for reliability testing for quality assurance
and in-field operations and maintenance, and
● Smart power inversion and storage grids
Infrastructural Supports for Solar PV Industry
● “Soft engineering” infrastructural supports include the development of:
● Standards for design, materials, fabrication processes, inter-connect and
packaging, pre-shipping testing, and installations
● Codes for design, fabrication, assembly, packaging and testing, and installation
● Certificates for installation and testing
● Infrastructural support in equipment and facilities for reliability testing for:
● Thermomechanical reliability testing
● Burn-in and accelerated aging testing
● Self-testing and testing during use
● Smart power inversion and storage grids:
● Cost effective “Balance of System” (BOS) with standard common power
conditioning equipment
● Smart energy storage and ‘Net metering” equipment connecting to
utility power generators
Thermomechanical Reliability Testing for PV Cells and Modules
Thermal Shock Tests
Temperature, T(t)
There is a need for routine tests performed before the solar cells or modules
are shipped to the customers:
+? oC
- ? oC
Thermal Cycling Tests
Temperature, T(t)
Δt ? according to specification
+ ?oC
- ?oC
Δt1 ?
Burn-in Tests
Time, t
Time, t
Δt2 ?
Δt3?
Solar cells or modules are placed in autoclaves at specified
temperatures and humidity for hundreds of hours for endurance.
Burn-in and Accelerated Aging Testing for Solar PV Cells and Modules
● Burn-in tests are conducted after all components are assembled into a module under
conceivable environment conditions, e.g., temperatures, humidity and vibrations
● These tests are necessary because many solar modules can fail to perform due to
invasion of unwanted foreign substances, e.g., dust and moisture to some packaged
components
Failure Rate
● A typical failure rate history for a product – a “Bath-tub” curve may be introduced:
Infant
Mortality
Useful Life
Wear-out
Time (in logarithmic scale)
● The GOAL of “Burn-in” tests is to have the “Infant mortality” failure of the
modules occurs in the factory, but not in the field.
● The Arrhenius model could be used to design the timing and conditions
for the “accelerated aging tests” of solar modules
Self Testing and Tests During Use
Self Testing
● Self testing devices need to be developed and attached to the solar modules
to determine if the modules are performing the expected functions
● These tests can be carried out by applying simple electric stimuli to the module
Testing During Use
● It is used for calibrations of solar modules in the designed life span
● Testing during use ensures the proper functioning of the solar modules
for the intended applications
● Input for these tests usually involve the natural loads, e.g., temperature and
humidity as in self testing.
Human Resource Development for Solar PV Industry
A layered cake model
Industry; Governments
Professional societies
Infrastructural
Support Dev.
R&D
Universities
& government
laboratories
Community
colleges
Develop Standards, Codes and
Certificates
R&D on: quantum physics;
Material science; Optoelectronics;
Electrochemistry;Microand nanotechnologies
Engineering
Design, Fabrication, AssemblyPackaging-Testing
Business & Marketing
Business development; Technology
management; Global marketing
Technology
Funding & Supporting Agencies:
NSF; DARPA; DOE, DOC, DOL,
NIST, Industrial consortia
similar to SRC, SEMATECH
Data logger and processing; Programming, Installation, Construction,
Testing, Operations &Maintenance
Summary on Infrastructural Support & Human Resource
Development to Solar PV Industry
● Standardization is the foremost critical element for sustaining a mature
solar PV industry
● The lack of standardization of solar PV industry does not only result in
high production costs, but it will become serious issues relating to parts
repair and replacements of solar modules years after field operations
– it will be a serious maintenance problem
● Lack of codes for design and manufacturing of solar modules in the industry also
contributes to the production cost, as well as quality assurance of the products
● Universally accepted certifications and reliability testing of solar PV cells and
modules, and power plant components in design and construction are essential to
the quality and public safety, and it will mitigate costs in operations and maintenance
of large solar power generating plants
● US is facing with stiff competition in global solar power market with Germany and Japan
● The competition will be stiffer with China now is ready to be in this international area
● Superior human resource development is the only way the US solar PV industry
can expect to sustain its competitiveness in global marketplace
Recommendations on Infrastructural Support & Human
Resource Development to Solar PV Industry
● There appear sporadic efforts on developing standards, code and certificates by:
● Governments, e.g., The Department of Energy, California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection
● Government agencies, e.g., National Renewable Energy Laboratories
and Sandia National Laboratories
● Private research organization, e.g., North American Board of Certified
Energy Practitioners (NABCEP)
● The solar PV industry, e.g., Trina Solar
● More concerted efforts are needed to develop universally accepted industrial
standards, codes and certificate programs
● Many attribute the success of the IC industry to the two industrial consortia:
● Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) for the R&D of
semiconductor technology, and
● The International SEMATECH (formerly SEMATECH) for solving common
manufacturing problems and regaining competitiveness for US semiconductor
industry
● Good track records of supporting R&D at American universities by
SRC and SEMATECH
● It will make sense for the solar PV industry to adopt this model by establishing
similar agencies for developing the necessary infrastructural supports and
human resource development
● Governments’ support and university’s contributions in R&D are essential to
the industry’s efforts in developing vital infrastructural supports and human
resources
- as in the case of the semiconductor and IC industries in
the past 50 years