Dr. Gabriel Takyi, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical engineering and former Director of TBHEC, KNUST presented on the topic “Performance Evaluation of 11-year Old PV Modules installed at KNUST, A hot humid region in sub-Sahara Africa” during USAID - PEER Africa Forum held in July 30 – August 2, 2018 at the Kempinsky Hotel, Accra. This was to bring to light the rudiments of post installation activities of PV Modules Installed in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Dr. Takyi, the performance of PV modules in operation outdoor experience a steady decrease in performance.
The rate of degradation is location dependent and hence it was imperative to investigate into the rate at which the modules degrade for a specific location using the visual inspection, field IV measurement and IR Thermal imaging tests.
He outlined the main objective (M.O) and specific objectives (S.O) of his research as follows;
- To evaluate the performance a three PV module technologies (monocrystalline, Polycrystalline and thin film) installed on the rooftop of the Levine building at the college of engineering, KNUST- Kumasi (M.O).
- To determine the current-voltage characteristics of the three technologies (S.O1).
- To carry out Infra-Red tests and correlate results with IV data (S.O 2).
His evaluation revealed that the power performance factor (PPF) of all Eleven (11) modules were outside the acceptable range of 80%-100% quoted by most manufacturers in their 25 years warranty statement. The IR tests also indicate that the higher the temperature differences in the hot spot test, the lower the fill factor. His investigation proved that continual monitoring of all PV modules after installation is essential to ensure smooth energy production.
