Potential induced degradation ( additionally called PID) is a potential induced performance degradation in crystalline photovoltaic modules, brought on by supposed stray currents This effect might cause power loss of as much as 30%.
The largest obstacle for photovoltaic technology is said to be the purchase price per watt of electricity produced. New materials and manufacturing methods continue to enhance the price to power performance. The issue exists in the enormous activation energy that must relapse for a photon to excite an electron for harvesting objectives. Developments in photovoltaic technologies have brought about the process of “doping” the silicon substrate to decrease the activation energy thereby making the panel a lot more efficient in transforming photons to retrievable electrons. Chemicals such as boron (p-type) are applied into the semiconductor crystal in order to create donor and acceptor power levels substantially more detailed to the valence and conductor bands.
In doing so, the addition of boron impurity enables the activation energy to reduce twenty-fold from 1.12 eV to 0.05 eV. Given that the potential distinction (EB) is so reduced, the Boron is able to thermally ionize at room temperatures. This allows for complimentary power providers in the conduction and valence bands thereby enabling greater conversion of photons to electrons.