Solar Panel hotspots using thermal imaging

The naked eye cannot see or identify a failed solar panel.
The continuous growth of the solar industry brings an ever-expanding base of solar installations. While many solar panels are expected to provide a 20-year life span, this is often not the case with cheaper quality solar panels but even high-quality panel can fail prematurely.
thermography technology can save time and make troubleshooting solar panel installations an easy and cost-effective service.
Thermal imaging cameras look for panel hotspots. Overheated cells can damage the casing material and cause delamination.
When modules overheat due to shading, defective cells, or substrings these overheating components consume energy instead of producing energy, the module efficiency can drop by around .5% per degree Celcius.
Where do the hotspots come from?
Shade on the module or a defective cell can change the module from power production to power consumption resulting in heating the cell which will show as a hotspot in a thermal image. A defective or mismatched bypass diode may cause the same effect.
Solar panel hotspots create two issues:
* Fall in overall power production since cells consume power instead of producing.
* Power consumption continues to heat up cells and affect the production of neighbouring cells.
Feel free to leave comments on this video.
#solarsystemsurvey #whatshouldyouknowaftergoingsolar #getyoursolarsystemchecked
efficiencymatrix.com

[@Paul-gc2cz]

Consider Enphase. Just got a system installed and the end user can instantly see the output of each individual panel. And yes choose a trusted installer.

[@rossmcleod7983]

Did not know that. Nice heads up.

[@thorstenpadeffke8655]

Fantastic work John! Very informative. Have been in the sustainability game for over 20 years but did not know that you can use thermography to check panel integrity.

[@ecoevo]

Thor Pad It’s the way to go. These solar panels are long term investments. 😉

[@mefirst4266]

NO WAY THEY CAN MONITOR EACH INDIVIDUAL CELL........ IF SO FUCKING EXPLAIN IT. BECAUSE I CAN FIND NOTHING THAT SAYS THEY CAN DO IT !!!

[@ecoevo]

What do you mean? Who is they?

[@michaelcook9414]

Great thermography shot from the air John! Did you mount the Flir to a drone?

[@ecoevo]

Michael Cook That is footage of a drone with an integrated thermal imaging camera. 👍🏻

[@shantelleadeline6053]

I made it by myself. I used Avasva solutions for that.

[@gavinhulme8837]

Great stuff! Can I come work for you guys?.. :-)