Comparison of Spectral Characterization Measurements on Pulsed Solar Simulators and Impact on the Calibration of a Multijunction Thin Film Module

The large variety of photovoltaic (PV) technologies today available on the market makes the characterization of the spectral content of the used light sources a key parameter for calibration and energy yield estimation of PV devices. The use of pulsed, artificial light sources is spread worldwide but these solar simulators have the disadvantage of producing light beams with a spectral content rather different from the Air Mass 1.5 global (AM1.5g) standard spectrum, thus requiring a careful correction of the spectral mismatch between actual and standard spectral conditions. The spectral mismatch correction factor (MMF) may be difficult to apply in the PV module calibration process if reference and calibrating devices have different spectral responsivities and/or if the calibrating device is a multi-junction one. This paper describes the comparison results on the spectral measurements of three pulsed solar simulators performed at two ISO 17025 accredited PV calibration laboratories. Two fast spectroradiometer systems calibrated and traceable to SI units were used for the purpose. Moreover, the impact these results may have on a multi-junction thin film PV module calibration will be analyzed and reported.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc