Performance and degradation assessment of two different solar PV cell technologies in the remote region of eastern India

The sole reliance on conventional energy sources proves inadequate to meet the surging energy demand. To address this challenge, a self-sustainable hybrid system based on solar PV emerges as a promising solution. In light of this issue, it becomes important to analyze the performance of a solar PV array. The study aims to assess the performance and degradation of two distinct solar PV technologies, polycrystalline silicon PV (Poly-Si PV) and monocrystalline silicon PV (Mono-Si PV), under the tropical climatic conditions of eastern India. Various performance indices of solar PV arrays, such as reference yield, array yield, final yield, array capture loss, capacity factor (CF) and performance ratio (PR) for the two PV technologies, have been meticulously calculated to analyze the performance of solar PV arrays. The Linear regression (LR) method is employed to assess the degradation rate of both technologies. The results show better performance for Mono-Si PV in terms of yield outcomes and losses compared to its Poly-Si PV counterpart. The yield outcome of Mono-Si PV is approximately 12 % higher, whereas losses are around 32 % lower than Poly-Si PV. The annual average PR for Mono-Si PV and Poly-Si PV is obtained as 77.5 % and 72.42 %, respectively. Correspondingly, the average yearly CF is 16.78 % for Mono-Si PV and 15.44 % for Poly-Si PV. Results also show that Poly-Si PV degrades faster as compared to Mono-Si PV, with an annual average degradation rate of 0.67 % for Mono-Si PV and 0.73 % for Poly-Si PV. Finally, economic analysis of the two systems reveals that Mono-Si PV provides energy at a 9 % lower cost than Poly-Si PV, with a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of 0.248 $/kWh for Mono-Si PV and 0.273 $/kWh for Poly-Si PV.