Is the Solar Industry Reinventing the Wheel? Or Completely Missing It?

For the solar industry to become a critical element of renewable power generation, it will need to solve the current reliability versus cost conundrum. Solar must meet the high reliability expectations of the utility industry and yet continue to reduce cost per kilowatt hour. With these tight margins, there is very little room for error, especially in capturing wearout mechanisms that could initiate failure within 25 years. As an invited participant at the recent PV Reliability Workshop, DfR presented a unique approach for predicting and ensuring the reliability of photovoltaic and concentrated photovoltaic systems. For more information, contact Greg Caswell, gcaswell@dfrsolutions.com.