Research Progress of Environmental Factors on Surface Damage of PV Modules and Their Protection Technology

The glass surfaces of photovoltaic (PV) modules are directly in contact with environment, so severe environmental factors can damage them in different degrees, and affect their reliability. Therefore, it is very important to take targeted protective measures according to damage characteristics. The environmental factors are divided into terrestrial environmental factors, spatial environmental factors and marine environmental factors. The damage characteristics and laws of PV module glass surfaces caused by different environmental factors are elaborated. In the process of analyzing damage mechanism, the damage forms of PV module glass surfaces by different environmental factors are summarized mainly including two aspects: the formation of non-transparent cover layer and the erosion of glass. On this basis, the existing methods of protection against damage of PV modules are mainly introduced, including self-protection technology represented by self-cleaning coatings and post-protection technology represented by intelligent cleaning devices, and the future development of protection technology is prospected.