NICE concept for bifacial technology

1. NICE Technology
for Bifacial PV Modules
‘New Industrial Cell Encapsulation’
Workshop on bifacial photovoltaics implemented in the
Atacama Desert Solar Platform
15/01/2015
Roland Einhaus, R&D Director

2. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Outline
- Brief Company presentation
- Motivation for new module technology
- NICE Module technology and process
- Bifacial NICE modules
- NICE production line at Energy Industrie, Tunisia
- Qualification results

3. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
APOLLON SOLAR
Creation in 2001, located in Lyon, France
Founders: 4 PV experts with longstanding experience in the fields
R&D, process development, industrialisation, project
management
APOLLON SOLAR’s objectives and functioning
Development and Patenting of PV related innovative
technologies
Cooperations with external partners
Implementation and Industrialisation
Company presentation

4. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
ITRPV Roadmap 2014:
Motiviation (1): Cost shares in PV value chain
Ref.: ITRPV – Roadmap 2014
Module manufacturing still the dominating cost contributor

5. APOLLON SOLAR
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Motiviation (2): Disruptive Module technology
Product Sustainability + Performance
- Increased module quality
- Prolonged module lifetime, more kWh
- Better compatibility with new cell designs
Added values:
- Reduced environmental footprint
(Bill of material, re-use and recycling at end life,
Carbon footprint)
- Safety and Security (production environment)
- Aesthetics

6. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
CellCell
Background: State of the art PV modules
EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate)
Ribbons/tabs
soldered to
the cell
Front glass
Tedlar
EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate)
• Soldering/tabbing for electrical interconnection of cell
• Lamination for environmental protection and structural support

7. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Sealing by PolyIsoButylene (PIB), well established in insulating glass
industry
No encapsulant, no soldering: Under-pressure in the module to
assure electrical series contacts
Glass/Glass module by definition
Invented and patented by AS in 2002
Principle : NICE Module
Rear glass
Cell Cell
Interconnection ribbons
pressed on the cellUnder-pressure
+ Neutral Gas N2
Pressure force due to the inside
under-pressure
Front glass
PIB Sealing

8. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
R&D NICE: Underpressure optimization
Initial setting of underpressure during pressing
Daily thermal cycles during module operation change the
underpressure inside the module
Glass
Cell Cell
Glass
High temperature => low underpressure, risk of contact disconnection
Low temperature => high underpressure, risk of mechanical damage

9. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Influence of glass flatness on cell/ribbon contacts:
- 3 test modules with different glasses produced
- Experimental set up: Inner volume of module connected
to vacuum pump to be able to vary underpressure
R&D NICE: Underpressure vs electrical contact / glass

10. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
R&D NICE: Potential for cells without busbars (front)
Full Size (60 cells) Module with « PhosTop » cells without
busbars
Cell realisation by Semco Engineering*
Full Al rear surface metallisation
No Ag busbars on front surface
Ag consumption strongly reduced
Pmax [W] Isc [A] Voc [V] FF [%]
Phos Top 230,0* 8,1* 38,1 74,9
(* Cells without busbars difficult to characterise – potential current mismatch)

11. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Results of extended thermal Cycling tests (-40°C / 85°C)
R&D NICE: Thermal cycling results
Power degradation < 3% after 1000 thermal cycles
High long term stability of electrical parameters
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
0 200 400 600 800 1000
PowerVariation(%)
Thermal Cycles (-40°C to +85°C)

12. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
NICE : Sealing quality – Risk of humidity ingress
-5,00
-4,00
-3,00
-2,00
-1,00
0,00
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
-5,00
-4,00
-3,00
-2,00
-1,00
0,00
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
FFVariation[%]
PowerVariation[%]
Hours @ +85°C 85%rH
Power Variation [%]
FF Variation [%]
Extended damp heat test
- Long term exposure at +85°C and 85% humidity at INES (ongoing)
- Test module with Heterojunction cells (sensible to humidity)
IEC 61215 Criteria

13. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
NICE: PID tests at NREL - Methodology
NICE modules have been tested for potential PID using the
in house test-to-failure protocol at NREL
The NICE modules under test were industrial multi-c
modules with 60 cells.
The PID tests were carried out between 01/2013 and
12/2013 according to the following sequence:
Alternating sequences of 1000h DH @ -600V and 200 TC
Total of 6 rounds
EL inspection and IV characterisation after every round
2 modules exposed to degradation cycles, 1 module kept for reference

14. APOLLON SOLAR
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Power evolution after each round
compared to 6 other standard
modules (EVA + crystalline Si cells)
NICE modules perform 2nd best
According to NREL no signs of PID
related degradation on NICE
modules
NICE: PID tests at NREL - Results
NICE

15. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Manufacturing of NICE – BiSoN modules:
NICE – Bifacial modules with ISC BiSoN cells
Illumination Voc
[V]
Isc
[A]
FF
[%]
Pmax
[W]
Front 38.84 8.52 74.91 248
Rear 38.35 6.32 77.9 189
Grey back 39.05 9.26 74.92 271
White back 39.11 9.69 75.10 285
2 NICE modules from 60 BiSoN cells (19.2% – 19.9%) manufactured
with the following constraints:
• SiN on cells not optimised for EVA free modules
• No cell binning (risk of Imp and FF mismatch)
• Standard glass on rear side (lower transparency that extra white PV glass)
STC IV data (by PI Berlin):

16. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Outdoor test results from ISC site El Gouna, Egypt
NICE – Bifacial modules with ISC BiSoN cells
• Monofacial Reference Module: Standard technology, STC Power 256W
• Bifaciality gain in energy yield (Wh/Wp): 14.3%
• Instantaneous peak power of 313 W at irradiance of 1214 W/m2

17. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Edge Junction box co-development with Multi-Contact
Characteristics:
NICE – Bifacial modules – New Junction Box
Dimension: L x W x H: 192 x 34.2 x19.5mm
Width from the glass edge: 30mm (for increased active module
surface)
Rated current: 17A (Ribbon temp. at module edge max. 90°C)
Max. current: 20 A
Rated voltage: 80V
System voltage:
1000V IEC / 1000V UL
Ambient temperature:
-40°C to 85°C
Certification pending:
EN50548
UL3730 / UL1703

18. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
NICE – Bifacial modules – R&D work in progress
Influence of soiling (dry/hot climate zones) – how
to best install bifacial modules
Realisation of more test installations to monitor
bifacial NICE modules for energy yield and power
production
Frameless module design, new mechanical rear
support for bifacial modules
Bifacial modules with busbar-free cells:
comparative studies
Best suitable degradation tests for NICE bifacial
modules, especially in extrem climats (desert,
snow rich regions etc.)

19. APOLLON SOLAR
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Glue deposition
Cells and connectors
placement
Placement of
external connectors
Placement of
module busbars
Placement of front
glass + transport of
assembly to press for
argon flooding and
creation of
underpressure
Pressing of
assembly
Deposition of
sealing
Placement of rear
sheet
Deposition of
secondary sealing
NICE Manufacturing: Process Animation

20. APOLLON SOLAR
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Station for sealing
deposition
Pick & Place stations for
ribbons and cells
Busbar deposition
station
Module press
NICE Industrialisation – Energy Industrie, Tunisia
Station for gluing
First Industrial 30 MW NICE line in Bousalem, Tunisia
• NICE technology + process development: Apollon Solar
• Automated production line for NICE modules: Vincent Industrie
• NICE module production in Tunisia : Energy Industrie
Partnership/ NICE consortium:

21. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
NICE Industrialisation – Energy Industrie, Tunisia
Production started in 2014
250 W modules with mono-c Silicon, mono-facial cells.

22. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Certifications
Four versions of modules were successfully certified according to IEC 61215 and IEC 61730
standards (TÜV Rheinland)
June 2010 : 36 multi-c cells modules (frameless)
November 2011 : 60 multi-c cells module (framed)
May 2012 : 60 multi-c cells module (frameless)
October 2013: 60 mono-c Cells (framed + frameless)
December 2014: Factory inspection of Energy Industrie by TÜV Rheinland
Q1/2015: 60 mono-c Cells, bifacial + new edge junction box + glasses without holes
new frame design
Certification results - observations
No significant degradation of module power
Average around -1.0 % (different modules , different tests)
Only one combined test gave an important degradation of – 4.0%
Detailed results on following slide
NICE Industrialisation: Certification

23. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
NICE – Certification results by TÜV - details
-8,0%
-7,0%
-6,0%
-5,0%
-4,0%
-3,0%
-2,0%
-1,0%
0,0%
1,0%
2,0%
3,0%
Pmaxvariation
Pmax variations after IEC 61215 (TÜV)
IEC 61215 Rev. 1 Rev. 2 Rev.3 Rev.3 bis

24. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
NICE Advantages - Conclusion
RELIABLE
• Glass-Glass module with new sealing technology
and soldering free cell interconnection
• Fully automated inline production with high
reproducibility and narrow distribution of output
power
• IEC 61215 & 61730 qualified by TÜV Rheinland
(Germany)
HIGH PERFORMANCE
• Long module lifetime of 30+ years
• Very low power degradation even in extreme
climatic conditions
• Higher performance ratio within the module
lifetime
COST EFFICIENCY
• Less consumables required
• Reduced industrial footprint
• Less manpower needed
RELIABLE
• Glass-Glass module with new sealing technology
and soldering free cell interconnection
• Fully automated inline production with high
reproducibility and narrow distribution of output
power
• IEC 61215 & 61730 qualified by TÜV Rheinland
(Germany)
HIGH PERFORMANCE
• Long module lifetime of 30+ years
• Very low power degradation even in extreme
climatic conditions
• Higher performance ratio within the module
lifetime
COST EFFICIENCY
• Less consumables required
• Reduced industrial footprint
• Less manpower needed
AESTHETICS
• Frameless version
• Lighter visual appearance
• Transparent in between cells
PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT
• Clean Factory
• No evaporation of solvents (solder flux)
• Room temperature processes
SAFETY
• Front and rear glasses fully tempered
• Few flammable organic components
• Inherent DC current interruption in case of fire
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
• Module components easy to separate and
recycle
• Less toxic components
• Low carbon footprint
AESTHETICS
• Frameless version
• Lighter visual appearance
• Transparent in between cells
PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT
• Clean Factory
• No evaporation of solvents (solder flux)
• Room temperature processes
SAFETY
• Front and rear glasses fully tempered
• Few flammable organic components
• Inherent DC current interruption in case of fire
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
• Module components easy to separate and
recycle
• Less toxic components
• Low carbon footprint
INNOVATIVE
New industrial encapsulation and electrical interconnection of solar cells based on long term
technological expertise
INNOVATIVE
New industrial encapsulation and electrical interconnection of solar cells based on long term
technological expertise

25. APOLLON SOLAR
Confidential
Thank you very much for your attention
NICE Modules