Module Deployment and Energy Rating

This chapter will explain in detail how to calculate, from the power rating of a photovoltaic module, the total energy that the module is expected to generate in one year of installation (energy rating). Afterwards, special attention will be given to cases where this expected energy yield is not achieved due to power losses and failure modes (including, but not limited to, known degradation mechanisms such as LID and PID), looking first at the time scale of these failures, then investigating how and in which cases these failures are recoverable. Finally, the tools to accurately perform the energy yield measurement via monitoring of PV plants will be introduced, to assist the plant owner in understanding when a power plant is underperforming.