Crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules with anti-reflective coated glass

This paper reports on a set of experiments to determine what efficiency gain can be achieved by using AR coated glass and to evaluate the weatherability of the coatings. AR coated glass from three different vendors was evaluated by building and testing full size modules. Only one of the three vendors' glass produced consistent increases in STC efficiency on the order of 2.4 to 3%. All of the three types of coated glass successfully passed the accelerated stress tests from IEC 61215. Modules made with the glass that consistently produced STC efficiency gains were then deployed outdoors for extended time periods in order to measure the energy production. Preliminary results indicate that the energy production difference between the AR coated glass and the standard low iron glass is in excess of the gain measured at STC. A pilot run of 231 modules achieved a similar STC efficiency gain. Modules from this trial have now been deployed outdoors to in a large system to determine energy gain from the AR coated glass.