Architecture, reliability and evolution of photovoltaic systems

Abstract

The photovoltaic cell is the basic device for photo-electric conversion. How are modules obtained from this cell? What other components are needed to produce electricity in a photovoltaic power plant? How can we restore confidence and convince people of the reliability of these power plants? Is a photovoltaic power plant a sustainable means of production?

This seminar will provide some answers to these four questions.

We'll explain how to combine cells to form a module, and present the other components needed to produce electricity, as well as the different system topologies. The second part of the lecture will be devoted to a presentation of the main faults, their impact on production and the diagnostic methods that can be put in place to detect them as soon as they appear, in photovoltaic power plants in operation.

Finally, a few notions and examples of life cycle analysis will be presented to open the discussion on the sustainability of photovoltaic power plants.

Biography

Anne Migan Dubois, born in 1975, has been a university professor and researcher in the field of photovoltaic solar energy since 2002. Her specialty is the characterization and modeling of devices and systems under real operating conditions. She is a member of the Institut Photovoltaïque d'Île-de-France (IPVF) and of the interdisciplinary Energy For Climate (E4C) center at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris. She has supervised fifteen doctoral theses and dozens of M2R master's theses. She is author/co-author of over a hundred international articles and papers, a book chapter and co-owner of three patents. She carries out evaluations for the French National Research Agency (ANR), is a member of the organizing committee of the Journées nationales du photovoltaïque (JNPV), the editorial board of the MDPI journal "Sustainability" and guest editor of the special issue "Modeling and Forecasting for Energy Production of Photovoltaic Systems" of the International Journal of Photoenergy.