Technical Program

Tutorials


This year the IEEE PVSC will be offering half day tutorials on Sunday June 5th, 2016. The tutorials cover a wide range of photovoltaic related topics, presented by the leading experts in the field. Separate registration is required for each event and you may only select one morning and one afternoon event. Simply log into your online registration account and edit your registration to add any of the tutorials listed below.

Please note the following times for the Tutorials:

Sunday AM Tutorials: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Sunday PM Tutorials: 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Morning Tutorials (offered on Sunday)

AM1 Advanced Approaches for Photovoltaics: Concepts and Implementation

AM2 Fundamentals of PV Part I

AM3 Numerical Modeling of Solar Cells - Theory and Application

AM4 Integration of PV into the Smart Grid: Beyond Utility Accommodation to Utility Advantage

AM5 The Systems of Life – From R&D to Decommissioning: How a systems-thinking approach can impact your part in the PV life cycle

AM6 Techno-Economic Analysis to Guide PV R&D Activities

Afternoon Tutorials (offered on Sunday)

PM1 Silicon solar cell technology: Design, device physics, and characterization.

PM2 Fundamentals of PV Part 2

PM3 I-V and QE Measurements and Analysis

PM4 High efficiency III-V multijunction cell technology for terrestrial and space photovoltaics

PM5 Photovoltaic Module Reliability

PM6 Future Thinking: Renewable hybrid energy systems


Click below to view a short course or tutorial description.

AM1: Advanced Approaches for Photovoltaics: Concepts and Implementation

Instructor: Dr. Gavin Conibeer, Professor, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales

While the conventional photovoltaic technologies are currently dominating the market and advancing, there are still many exciting research efforts in developing novel materials and device architectures in this area. This tutorial will provide a perspective of the new technologies and materials, as well as novel device concepts which are actively being investigated globally to overcome the current limit of photovoltaic conversion efficiency and further drive down the cost of PV electricity generation. Topics covered will include major losses in single junction PV and approaches to reduce loss such as tandem; IBSC; up-conversion; down-conversion; MEG; TPV; hot carrier cell. In addition, we will present perspectives for future PV devices - further experimental proofs of concept, development to industry and other new concepts (quantum antennae, non-reciprocating circulators).

Professor Gavin Conibeer received his BSc degree from Queen Mary College, London University in Materials Science; MSc from the University of North London in Polymer Science; and PhD from Southampton University, UK, in III-V semiconductors for tandem PV cells. Conibeer has held research positions at Monash, Southampton, Cranfield and Oxford Universities and moved to his current location at the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 2002. He has worked on III-V, II-VI, group IV and nanostructure materials for solar cells as well as PV systems and policy. He has published more than 150 refereed papers and been successful in securing more than A$12M of research funding. He is an editor of Progress in Photovoltaics. Conibeer is currently Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of New South Wales where he leads the Third Generation Photovoltaics research group.

AM2: Fundamentals of PV Part 1

Instructor: Dr. Steven Hegedus, Scientist, Institute of Energy Conversion, University of Delaware

This comprehensive class will span the entire field of photovoltaics (PV). Learn about the technology that can produce energy for 25 years with no moving parts or emissions and can be deployed at scales to charge a cell phone or power a major city. First, we will cover the critical issues in PV cell operation, manufacturing, cost and performance. Then, we will move into applications by considering the very different design criteria off-grid vs on-grid systems. Finally, actual outdoor performance will be discussed in terms of module orientation and tilt, available sunlight, installation method. Issues of testing, outdoor reliability, impact of policy and grid connection will be briefly covered as well. A limited knowledge of solid state electronics (p-n diode) and simple circuits is assumed (Associate or bachelor level engineering or physics). A common theme throughout the class will be the trade-off between cost and performance whether applied to selecting materials, moving advanced cell designs into production, and module installation options such as tracking or concentration.

Topics to be covered will include

  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of PV for producing electricity?
  • What semiconductor properties are important for solar cells: why are only a limited number of materials promising for high efficiency solar devices?
  • How the pn junction diode functions and how it becomes a solar cell when illuminated: simple solar cell circuit model for current and voltage and power
  • Basic definitions of solar cell performance: efficiency, power, short circuit current, open circuit voltage, fill factor
  • Learn a simple algorithm to accurately calculate the monthly or annual energy output of a solar module for any locations and orientation using the information on a module data sheet and available sunlight and temperature data.
  • Manufacturing process flow from start to finish: design and manufacturing of today’s standard Si solar cell - from purifying and crystallizing raw Si feedstock into wafers into metalized solar cells - and encapsulating them to make a PV module
  • Advanced Si solar cell concepts for higher efficiency
  • What are thin film PV technologies? Focus on two with strong commercial interest: CdTe and Cu(InGa)Se2
  • Analyze off-grid stand-alone application in terms of using battery storage to balance seasonal energy production and demand
  • Compare qualities of 3 primary grid connected applications: residential (< 10kW), commercial rooftop (10-1000 kW), and centralized utility-scale power systems (> 1MW).
  • A typical residential rooftop installation procedure
  • Balance of systems: the non-PV components like inverter, wiring, and fuses necessary to functionally and safely connect your modules to deliver useful energy to a load
  • What limits how much PV connected to the grid? Utility concerns. Critical role of battery storage to allow PV to make a significant contribution (>10%) to national electric generation by shifting peak PV supply and providing grid support services.
Dr. Steven Hegedus has been involved in solar cell research for over 30 years at the Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) at the University of Delaware (UD), the world's oldest photovoltaic research laboratory. He is a Senior Scientist who has worked on all of the commercially active solar cell technologies - a-Si, CdTe, Cu(InGa)Se2, organic, and c-Si. Areas of his research have included a-Si and a-SiGe device fabrication, textured TCOs, thin film device analysis and characterization, a-Si/c-Si heterojunctions, back contact back junction Si solar cells, and accelerated stability studies of thin film devices. Dr Hegedus co-edited the 1st and 2nd editions of the "Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering" (Wiley 2003, 2011). He has been teaching a comprehensive graduate-level PV class for over 10 years. He completed the Solar Energy International Grid Connected PV System Installation class and has had a PV system on his roof since 2007.

AM3: Numerical Modeling of Solar Cells - Theory and Application

Instructor: Dr. Jeff Gray, Associate Professor, School of Electrical and Computer and Engineering, Purdue University

Simulation tools such as PC-1D, SCAPS, AMPS, and ADEPT are useful for aiding in the design and analysis of solar cells. The first part of this tutorial will provide a general overview of the fundamental physics, mathematics, and computer science underlying the numerical simulation of semiconductor solar cells. Topics will include: discretization and solution of the non-linear, coupled semiconductor equations in DC steady-state, the time domain (transients), and the frequency domain (sinusoidal steady-state). The second part of the tutorial will be a hands-on session using ADEPT-m, an m-code implementation of ADEPT. Tutorial participants must bring a laptop computer with either MatLab (Version 8.2 or later) or Octave (Version 4.0 or later) installed. Participants will gain experience simulating dark/light current-voltage characteristics, spectral response, transient characteristics, and capacitance-voltage characteristics of some basic solar cell device structures. No prior experience using MatLab or Octave is required, but some prior experience will be beneficial.

Jeff Gray received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in 1982 after completing his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1976. His Ph.D. thesis was the on 2-D numerical simulation of concentrator silicon solar cells. He is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University and has continued developing and utilizing solar cell simulation software throughout his career. ADEPT-m was developed at Purdue University by Dr. Gray and he is the contributing author for Chapter 3, The “Physics of the Solar Cell”, in the Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, 2nd Edition, Antonio Luque and Steven Hegedus (Editors), John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2011.

AM4: Integration of PV into the Smart Grid: Beyond Utility Accommodation to Utility Advantage

Instructor: Robert M. Reedy, PE. Program Director, Solar Systems Integration, Florida Solar Energy Center of UCF, and Instructor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida.

Our utility grid is undergoing an “explosive convergence” of three major innovations: intelligent/adaptive control, electric vehicle deployment and exponential growth of PV generation.  All three are characterized as Distributed Technologies and usually known by catchphrase (Smart Grid, V2G and DG, for example). This will be an overview of technical issues for the PV/DG leg of this triad from the perspective of the utility engineer – a body of knowledge critical to manufacturers and developers and useful even to scientists working with cell and module design. Topics will include: 

  • The evolution and future of grid and microgrid topology, and its implications for location and characteristics of PV systems.
  • Control and protection of AC systems and the impacts of ever-increasing DC elements, with indicators for inverters and module electronics.
  • Dynamics of AC systems, including impacts of “intertia-less” PV generation and “smart inverters” on real and reactive power stability.
  • Wholesale (and by extension, retail) energy markets and changes brought by generation units with zero energy cost (eg, PV and wind); designing for advantage.
  • Distribution feeder reliability, resilience and restoration – before and after high PV/DG penetration.
  • Impacts of increasing storage feasibility and deployment on all the above.

This tutorial will be structured as explorations of each technical challenge for PV, immediately contrasted with the technical opportunity presented by PV deployment, leading to implications and recommendations for future research and development.

Bob Reedy has directed research in Solar Systems Integration at the Florida Solar Energy Center of UCF since early 2007. He serves as the Center’s primary expert on electric utility system analysis, design and operations, wholesale energy markets and the integration of solar energy into those segments. As an Instructor with the UCF Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he is Co-PI for the DOE FEEDER program (Foundations for Engineering Education on Distributed Energy Resources). Mr. Reedy earned the MSEE from Auburn University with a focus on Electric Power Systems Analysis, and later rounded his education with an MBA specializing in Production Economics.
Previously, he served Georgia Transmission Corporation as Research Manager and as Manager of Transmission Line Design. Earlier experience includes leadership and technical roles for Turbec AB (microturbines), The Energy Authority, Inc. (wholesale electric energy) and Lakeland Electric Utilities (T&D, System Control and Protection). He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Florida and Georgia.

AM5: The Systems of Life – From R&D to Decommissioning: How a systems-thinking approach can impact your part in the PV life cycle

Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Granata, President and Founder, Jennifer Granata Consulting

Learn how to use a systems-thinking approach to assess your work, from far-reaching R&D to production and manufacturing through to installation and decommissioning. We will look at cross-connections between your area of expertise and other aspects of the PV life cycle, and explore how the environment – physical, financial, political – impacts your work and your decisions. We will assess how to improve the use of your resources – money, time, expertise, and equipment – to accelerate results. This tutorial is both instructive and interactive. You will have the opportunity to investigate the broad systems of photovoltaics and how you fit into it, are influenced by it, and can influence it.

This tutorial is for anyone, in any specialty, who wants to improve their work by taking some time to see the broader view.

Dr. Jennifer Granata has a broad experience in photovoltaics, including basic R&D, production and manufacturing experience, reliability, small-scale and large-scale systems characterization and optimization, and she has even worked with the financial and insurance groups. She received her PhD in physics from Colorado State University in 1999 under the mentorship of Dr. Jim Sites, where she focused on growth and characterization of CIGS solar cells. Between 1999 and 2013, she worked in the PV industry with Spectrolab; for the Air Force while at The Aerospace Corporation (focus on space PV); and then lead various characterization and reliability teams for terrestrial PV at Sandia National Laboratories. In 2013, Dr. Granata began her own consulting business working primarily with teams of all types and in all industries, as well as with individuals, using a systems-approach to optimize projects, team dynamics, and resource allocation.

AM6: Techno-Economic Analysis to Guide PV R&D Activities

Instructor: Dr. Paul A. Basore

It’s no longer sufficient to improve the performance of PV cells, modules and systems; the improvements must come at a cost that makes it worthwhile. Techno-economic analysis combines performance estimation with cost estimation to evaluate the net benefit expected from any proposed change in design, production, or operation. This tutorial will teach attendees the following basic concepts necessary to apply techno-economic analysis to help guide their own R&D activities:

  • Performance
  • Effective use of software tools for simulating cell efficiency
  • Estimating cell-to-module losses and annual system energy yield
  • Cost
  • Predicting the cost of a proposed module manufacturing process
  • Balance-of-system cost and the levelized cost of electricity
  • Uncertainty
  • Assigning a range of feasibility for each input parameter
  • Distinguishing between uncertainties and unknowns

Paul Basore’s thirty years in photovoltaics have spanned university, government and industrial positions across three continents. Since receiving his PhD in electrical engineering from MIT, he has managed the establishment of five PV R&D facilities. The first of these, at Sandia National Labs, fabricated the world’s first 15% multicrystalline-silicon module: a record that was not eclipsed until 15 years later. His next facility was a thin-film start-up in Australia that led to the establishment of a factory in Germany, where Paul served as the founding CTO. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007, he established R&D labs for two of the world’s leading PV manufacturers: the Renewable Energy Corporation of Norway and Hanwha Q Cells of Korea. He was the IEEE PVSC Program Chair in 1993 and Conference Chair in 1997. But Paul is probably best known as the principal developer of PC1D and other software tools for device characterization and cost modeling that have found widespread use within the photovoltaics community.

PM1: Silicon solar cell technology: Design, device physics, and characterization

Instructor: Ronald A. Sinton, President, Sinton Instruments, Boulder, CO USA

Crystalline silicon continues to be the most commercially significant solar cell production technology. This tutorial will focus on the cell design, technology and device physics of crystalline silicon solar cells. A special emphasis will be placed on test and measurement for process control during fabrication of silicon solar cells and modules. New emerging technologies will be discussed, such as heterojunction and passivated emitter technologies. Special topics in solar cell and module measurement will also be touched upon, including a few measurement techniques for outdoor characterization.

Ron Sinton received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1987 for work on high-efficiency (28%) silicon concentrator solar cells. Following graduation, he was a founding member of SunPower as manager of R&D. In 1992, he founded Sinton Consulting, later Sinton Instruments, which has focused on developing many novel test and measurement instruments that have become central to both R&D and process control during the enormous expansion of the silicon solar cell industry. In particular, Sinton Instruments has been at the forefront in developing instruments for characterizing carrier recombination lifetime at each stage in the process from as-crystallized brick or ingot material through wafers through the entire fabrication process, and then in finished devices. Cell and module characterization is another specialty. In 2014, Ron received the Cherry Award at the IEEE PVSC.

PM2: Fundamentals of PV Part 2

Instructor: Dr. Steven Hegedus, Scientist, Institute of Energy Conversion, University of Delaware

This comprehensive class will span the entire field of photovoltaics (PV).  Learn about the technology that can produce energy for 25 years with no moving parts or emissions and can be deployed at scales to charge a cell phone or power a major city. First, we will cover the critical issues in PV cell operation, manufacturing, cost and performance. Then, we will move into applications by considering the very different design criteria off-grid vs on-grid systems.  Finally, actual outdoor performance will be discussed in terms of module orientation and tilt, available sunlight, installation method. Issues of testing, outdoor reliability, impact of policy and grid connection will be briefly covered as well. A limited knowledge of solid state electronics (p-n diode) and simple circuits is assumed (Associate or bachelor level engineering or physics).  A common theme throughout the class will be the trade-off between cost and performance whether applied to selecting materials, moving advanced cell designs into production, and module installation options such as tracking or concentration.
Topics to be covered will include

  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of PV for producing electricity?
  • What semiconductor properties are important for solar cells: why are only a limited number of materials promising for high efficiency solar devices?
  • How the pn junction diode functions and how it becomes a solar cell when illuminated: simple solar cell circuit model for current and voltage and power
  • Basic definitions of solar cell performance: efficiency, power, short circuit current, open circuit voltage, fill factor
  • Learn a simple algorithm to accurately calculate the monthly or annual energy output of a solar module for any locations and orientation using the information on a module data sheet and available sunlight and temperature data.
  • Manufacturing process flow from start to finish: design and manufacturing of today’s standard Si solar cell - from purifying and crystallizing raw Si feedstock into wafers into metalized solar cells - and encapsulating them to make a PV module
  • Advanced Si solar cell concepts for higher efficiency
  • What are thin film PV technologies? Focus on two with strong commercial interest: CdTe and Cu(InGa)Se2
  • Analyze off-grid stand-alone application in terms of using battery storage to balance seasonal energy production and demand
  • Compare qualities of 3 primary grid connected applications: residential (< 10kW), commercial rooftop (10-1000 kW), and centralized utility-scale power systems (> 1MW).
  • A typical residential rooftop installation procedure
  • Balance of systems: the non-PV components like inverter, wiring, and fuses necessary to functionally and safely connect your modules to deliver useful energy to a load
  • What limits how much PV connected to the grid? Utility concerns. Critical role of battery storage to allow PV to make a significant contribution (>10%) to national electric generation by shifting peak PV supply and providing grid support services.

Dr. Steven Hegedus has been involved in solar cell research for over 30 years at the Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) at the University of Delaware (UD), the world's oldest photovoltaic research laboratory. He is a Senior Scientist who has worked on all of the commercially active solar cell technologies - a-Si, CdTe, Cu(InGa)Se2, organic, and c-Si. Areas of his research have included a-Si and a-SiGe device fabrication, textured TCOs, thin film device analysis and characterization, a-Si/c-Si heterojunctions, back contact back junction Si solar cells, and accelerated stability studies of thin film devices. Dr Hegedus co-edited the 1st and 2nd editions of the "Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering" (Wiley 2003, 2011). He has been teaching a comprehensive graduate-level PV class for over 10 years. He completed the Solar Energy International Grid Connected PV System Installation class and has had a PV system on his roof since 2007.

PM3: I-V and QE Measurements and Analysis

Instructor: Dr. Keith Emery (NREL) Principal Scientist, Photovoltaic Reliability Research and Development, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The impact of recombination mechanisms and defects on the current versus voltage (I-V) measurements in the dark and under illumination will be summarized. Different current conduction mechanisms have different theoretical temperature and voltage dependence allowing them to be differentiated. The quantum efficiency is sensitive to surface recombination in the blue and recombination and minority carrier lifetime near the band edge. Standard theoretical models will be described along with specific examples.

Keith Emery established and has managed the Cell and Module Performance Characterization team at NREL since 1980. The team established the procedures for calibrating cells and modules that have since been codified in standards and adopted by the international PV community. He received his B.S. physics and M.S.E.E. from Michigan State in 1979 and worked on a PhD at Colorado State in 1979-1980 and 1982. His graduate thesis work was in the area of comprehensive modeling of the pulsed hydrogen fluoride laser system, electron and laser beam vapor phase epitaxy of oxides and nitrides, and ion beam sputtering of tin oxide on Si. He has 340 publications and 5 chapters in PV books to date and one patent for a laser photoresponse mapper. His ISO 9001 and ISO 17025 PV accredited calibration group provides the community with reference cell calibrations and efficiency certification. He is also active in PV standards development and consulting on PV performance rating hardware, solar simulation, current versus voltage measurement software and procedures. He is the recipient of the 2007 NCPV Paul Rappaport, 2009 NREL Harold M. Hubbard award, 2012 World Renewable Energy Network Pioneer Award, and the 2013 IEEE William R. Cherry award.

PM4: High efficiency III-V multijunction cell technology for terrestrial and space photovoltaics

Instructor: Dr. Myles Steiner, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

III-V multijunction solar cells have recently demonstrated power conversion efficiencies >46%, the highest of any photovoltaic technology. This tutorial will give a general introduction to the field of high efficiency multijunction solar cells for the use in terrestrial and space systems. It will start from basic theoretical considerations and explain the benefits of using several pn-junctions to convert the broad solar spectrum into electricity. We will review the III-V alloy system and the various techniques that are available for growing these highly crystalline semiconductors. We will consider different multijunction architectures including designs based on upright and inverted growths, lattice-matched and metamorphic growth, wafer bonding, quantum well solar cells and new efforts toward III-V on Si tandems. Some of the specific requirements for the use of multijunctions in different environments will be introduced, such as high current capacity and energy yield for concentrators, radiation hardness for space applications, and low cost for one-sun applications. Advanced concepts such as photon recycling and luminescent coupling will also be covered.

Myles Steiner is a senior scientist in the High Efficiency Crystalline Photovoltaics group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, Colorado, where he works on III-V multijunction solar cells for CPV applications. Before joining NREL in 2007, he was a graduate student in Applied Physics at Stanford University, where he studied superconductivity in disordered thin films.

PM5: Photovoltaic Module Reliability

Instructor: Dr. John Wohlgemuth, Principal Scientist, Photovoltaic Reliability Research and Development, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

As PV has grown into a large business, reliability of the products and systems become even more important. This combined with pressure to reduce costs means that ensuring PV component reliability is critical. This tutorial will cover:

  • Introduction to PV Modules, the purpose of module packaging
  • History of field failures and how they led to the development of accelerated stress tests.
  • Qualification Tests and their limitations
  • Some measurement tools for failure analysis of PV modules.
  • Update on the work being done by PVQAT and IEC.
  • Testing beyond Qualification to evaluate wear-out
  • Three pronged approach to improving the quality of PV systems
  • How do we develop module service life predictions?

Dr. Wohlgemuth joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as Principle Scientist in PV Reliability in 2010. He is responsible for establishing and conducting research programs to improve the reliability and safety of PV modules. Before joining NREL he worked at Solarex/BP Solar for more than 30 years. His PV experience includes cell processing and modeling, Si casting, module materials and reliability, and PV performance and standards. Dr. Wohlgemuth has been an active member of working group 2 (WG2), the module working group within TC-82, the IEC Technical Committee on PV since 1986 and has been convenor of the group for more than 15 years. Dr. Wohlgemuth is a member of the Steering Committee of PVQAT and of the Standards Technical Panel for UL 1703. Dr. John Wohlgemuth earned a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

PM6: Future Thinking: Renewable hybrid energy systems

Instructor: Nicoleta Sorloaica-Hickman & guests, Associate Professor of Physics, Florida Polytechnic University

Renewable hybrid energy systems (RHESs) are expanding due to environmental concerns of climate change, air pollution, and depleting fossil fuels. Moreover, RHESs can be cost effective in comparison with conventional power plants. The design of an efficient RHES is challenging because RHES models are nonlinear, non-convex, and composed of mixed-type variables that cannot be solved by traditional optimization methods. This tutorial will introduce several renewable hybrid systems with different components including solar-wind, solar-diesel, solar-thermoelectric, and solar-fuel cell. It will also focus on linear programming models and various optimization techniques used by researchers to design hybrid energy systems and minimize the average production cost of electricity while meeting the load requirements in a reliable manner, taking the environmental factors into consideration both in the design and operation phases.

Nicoleta Sorloaica-Hickman is currently an Associate Professor of Physics at Florida Polytechnic University. She received a B.S. and M.S in Physics from "Al. I. Cuza" University - Romania in 1998 and 1999, respectively. She received her second M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from Clemson University in 2004 and 2006, respectively. At Florida Poly, Dr. Sorloaica-Hickman's group performs research at the leading edge of advances in electronic, and thermal materials, and devices for applications in photovoltaic, thermoelectric, and renewable hybrid energy systems, developing inexpensive hybrid constructions to improve the solar cell efficiency and longevity. In 2012 Dr. Sorloaica-Hickman co-founded HybridaSol, which has the mission to combine the innovations in silicon cell and thermoelectric architectures with inexpensive and fast manufacturing process to bring solar cells to cost parity with coal-based electricity. As part of her effort at Florida Poly, she is working on strategic planning, implementing and measuring sustainability programs throughout campus. This includes work within curriculum, student life, campus operations and campus governance. She has (co)written over thirty papers in the areas of Photovoltaic and Thermoelectric and organized topical symposia, workshops and taught short courses on these topics as well as speaking at numerous national and international conferences.

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