Yield and performance analysis of PERC, HIT, and CIGS photovoltaic systems in five Peruvian city-climates

Abstract

Latin American cities face challenges in designing and maintaining distributed photovoltaics (PV), with limited multi-year, cross-climate evidence to guide procurement and policy. We present a three-year outdoor evaluation of 1.5 kWp grid-connected PV systems based on Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC), Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer (HIT), and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) modules installed in five Peruvian cities: Lima (coastal desert), Chachapoyas (tropical montane forest), Arequipa (arid highlands), Tacna (hot desert), and Juliaca (high-altitude Andes). Monitoring followed IEC-61724–1 at one-minute resolution, delivering reference, array, and final yields, capture and system losses, and performance ratio (PR). Diagnostics included electroluminescence (EL) and infrared (IR) thermography. Across all climates, system losses were low and stable (∼0.14–0.31 kWh/kWp/day), highlighting capture losses as the main performance differentiator. HIT modules achieved the most consistent results (PR ≈ 0.83–0.87), sustaining high yields in humid and high-irradiance sites. PERC modules performed reliably in humid/temperate climates but underperformed in arid highlands, where EL/IR revealed early degradation and hotspot formation. CIGS modules remained stable only in the dry desert of Tacna (PR ≈ 0.81); in humid or thermally variable climates, accelerated degradation likely linked to moisture ingress and shading stress reduced PR to ≤ 0.72. The dataset demonstrates how harmonized monitoring and diagnostics can inform technology–climate suitability, O&M standards, and procurement strategies. Results support climate-class specifications—prioritizing HIT in humid/coastal and high-altitude cities, enforcing acceptance tests for PERC in moderate climates, and restricting CIGS to arid sites—thus strengthening reliability assessment and performance-based planning for distributed PV.