Welcome to pvdeg!
This PVDegradation Tools Model is a first-of-its-kind detailed spatio-temporal modeling assessment tool that empowers users to calculate various PV degradation modes, for different PV technologies and materials in its database.
NREL is developing the pvdeg model to help PV Researchers, Module manufacturers, and other PV stakeholders assess different materials and technologies for different degradation modes in all locations throughout the world. Available as open source, the PVDegradation model currently supports PV energy calculations for water vapor pressure, ingress rate, edge seal width, Van Hofft Irradiance Degradation, Weighted Average Irradiance, Arrehnius Acceleration Factor, relative humidity in the outside, front and back encapsulant and backsheet, spectral degradation, and solder fatigue. More functions for standards and other degradation profiles are in the works.
The source code for pvdeg is hosted on github.
Tutorials to learn how to use and experiment with the various functionalities are available for running interactively through Google Collab at PVDeg JupyterBook<https://nrel.github.io/PVDegradationTools/intro.html>.
Please see the Installation page for installation help.
How the Model Works
Coupled with pvlib for module performan and weather/irradiance calculations, the PVDegradation Tool estimates degradations, and accelerated factors on user-defined parameters. The Data Library is under development as part of the PVDegradationTool project, compiling literature parameters and functions.
The PVDegradationTool simulatineously reads tens of terabytes of time-series solar data from state-of-art resource data set National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB), publicly avialable no the cloud, enabling the execution of pvdeg beyond the confines of NREL’s high-performance computing capabilities.
Citing PVDegradation Tools
If you use this calculator in a published work, please cite:
Please also cite the DOI corresponding to the specific version that you used. DOIs are listed at Zenodo.org