POWERGRAMS

It's the ultimate irony: The sun destroys solar panels. Not all at once, of course. But over their lifetime, photovoltaic (PV) modules are degraded by heat, cold and extreme weather conditions. How to solve this dilemma? The engineers at Southern Research (SR) are on the case. SR is undertaking new ways to "age" solar PV panels in the lab and measure their performance over time. It's part of the $1.3 million Predicts2 project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy under its SunShot initiative. In March, a kickoff meeting was held at the SR campus near Homewood for the three-year project, a partnership with Southern Company and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). "One of our goals is cost-benefit analysis," said project manager Cara Libby of EPRI. "We want to identify module issues early before they're placed in a commercial project." Solar panel manufacturers typically offer 25-year warranties that guarantee 80 percent efficiency — roughly a 1 percent annual degradation rate. But advances in technology and manufacturing techniques, along with increases in production, have thrown the percentages into question. "The reality is, there are no good long-term studies to say what real power performance looks like as a function of time, versus what the performance is expected to be," said Bill Grieco, SR's vice president of energy and environment. Predicts2 will subject solar panels to real-world conditions to reduce uncertainty and costs, and to pinpoint which materials and processes may extend their life. It's one of many challenges being tackled by SR, an independent organization created in 1941 by Alabama Power President Tom Martin. Its purpose is to solve problems through scientific discovery and technology, across fields as varied as medicine, energy and space travel, with a focus on job creation and competitiveness. Solar fits the bill. It is the nation's fastest-growing energy sector, and shows no signs of slowing. A record amount of PV modules were installed in 2015; residential use was up 66 percent. It was the first year in which solar capacity grew faster than natural gas. Utilities are expected to drive future demand. One of the goals of Predicts2 is to "reduce the uncertainty in PV power plant energy yield." Alabama Power, which helped to set up energy metering for Predicts2, is moving forward on solar projects of its own. Last year, the Public Service Let the Sunshine In COMPANY PARTNERS WITH SR TO EXTEND SOLAR PANEL LIFE By John Herr Southeastern Solar Research Center in Birmingham. 45

• Cover