Impact of Anti-soiling Coating on Potential Induced Degradation of Silicon PV modules

Potential induced degradation of the shunting type (PID-s) can adversely affect module performance. Most of the current solutions to mitigate PID require changes in the manufacturing process. This paper presents an approach to reduce PID-s in crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) modules after module manufacturing by applying an off-the-shelf anti-soiling (AS) coating on the front glass surface. Two identical one-cell modules, one with AS coating and the other without the AS layer, were stressed in an indoor environmental chamber for PID-s. The results indicate that the AS coating application reduces power (Pmax) degradation by nearly half (53%) compared to the module stressed without the AS coating. The outcome of this study can help reduce PID-s of modules after manufacturing.