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A round-robin proficiency test (RR PT) on thin-film multi-junction (MJ) photovoltaic (PV) cells was run between 13 laboratories within the European project CHEETAH. Five encapsulated PV cells were circulated to participants for being tested at Standard Test Conditions (STC). Three cells were a-Si/mu c-Si tandem PV devices, each of which had a different short-circuit current ratio between the top junction and the bottom one; the remaining two cells were single-junction PV devices made with material representative of the individual junctions in the MJ cells. The RR PT's main purpose was to assess the capability of the participating laboratories, in terms of employed facilities and procedures, to test MJ PV devices. Therefore, participants were requested to perform STC measurements of all cells according to their own procedure, which might not include external quantum efficiency measurements. The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) provided the reference calibrations against which the participants' results are compared. ESTI made also a verification of the cells performance at STC at the end of the RR PT, in order to allow a comparison between the initial stable state at which the cells were calibrated (just before circulation) and the one they had reached at the end of the RR PT. The overall results of the RR PT are here presented and discussed together with some aspects of MJ PV testing that emerged as not adequately applied or largely missing. Their full implementation is expected to improve the consistency of future results.

To realize the EU target of energy transition to a carbon neutral energy system, wide scale deployment of photovoltaic solar energy is required. This report describes the contribution of the European Solar Test Installation to enable this transition., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables

This document contains proposal for the establishment of transition methods in order to facilitate the introduction of regulations governing ECODESIGN , ECOLabel , Energy Label and GPP. This draft has been prepared for the 2nd Stakeholder Meeting for the PV Ecodesign Preliminary Study. The final version will be available at the conclusion of the preparatory study in 2019., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables

This report outlines the JRC contribution to standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. The JRC continues to play a significant role in European and International standardisation activities within the field of Photovoltaic Energy Systems. In particular JRC staff are convenors for working groups in both the relevant International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) technical committees, and were the project leader of two standards (IEC 61853-3 and IEC 61853-4) which were published by the IEC in 2018. JRC is also the project leader for another 3 standards (IEC 60904-1, IEC 60904-4 and IEC 60904-10) which are progressing through the standardisation process and has made contributions to 24 others (as part of the various project teams)., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables

Photovoltaics (PV) are expected to make a major contribution to achieving European and global climate change mitigation goals over the coming 35 years. It is the renewable energy technology with the largest scope for cost reduction and efficiency gains, as well as exploiting the largest resource. The rapid technical evolution needs to be matched by standards to ensure the highest level possible of product quality, reliability and sustainability, as well as transparent market conditions. This requires reliable, reproducible and widely applicable measurement protocols for the assessment of electrical performance of PV devices of traditional as well as emerging PV technologies. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) plays a prominent role in developing, validating and implementing such measurement protocols, exploiting more than 35 years of expertise developed in the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), the European Commission’s reference laboratory to validate electrical performance and lifetime of PV devices. The JRC works together with policy makers, industry and the research community to monitor the progress of PV technology and helps develop the solutions for the future. This directly supports the European Union’s objective of attaining an increasing share of renewable energies in the market (20% in 2020 and at least 32% in 2030). ESTI is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited calibration laboratory. As such, it is involved in benchmarking, intercomparisons (bilateral and round robin (RR)) and proficiency tests to maintain and improve its measurement capabilities for solar irradiance and electrical performance of PV devices. The results of these international activities is directly used, mainly through the International Electrotechnical Commission’s Technical Committee 82 (IEC TC 82), as input for revision of existing standards or for development of new standards for assessment of the electrical performance of PV devices. This work concerns both measurement methods and PV technologies. Furthermore, ESTI actively promotes transfer of knowledge about the measurement procedures to the European and International research community, provides the PV traceability chain by generating PV reference materials for its partners and clients and offers verification of PV devices (mainly based on new technologies). In this report the activities of 2018 are summarised. Starting from the traceability chain of solar irradiance measurements according to international standards, the activities of ESTI in establishing the PV traceability chain at its own laboratory is outlined. Then the activities in international intercomparison measurements for the major instruments used in the traceability chain are described, starting from cavity radiometers and spectroradiometers to PV devices (both cells and modules). These serve to establish the traceability, stability and conformity of ESTI calibration measurements. This in-house metrology activity is then used to provide the PV traceability chain to clients and partners by generating reference materials, i.e. by calibrating PV cells and modules for them under the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation as calibration laboratory. Another crucial activity is to verify those PV devices which claim to have achieved extraordinary performance, be it world record efficiencies or other performance beyond the usual. Last not least, the activities on measurement methods are described, which span from the actual development of new methods and their validation to their implementation into the ESTI quality system and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation scope. Thereby, this annual report: — verifies the status of ESTI’s unique independent traceability chain for solar irradiance measurements; — summarises benchmarking activities with peer external international organisations; — summarises results of PV device calibrations performed for EU industry and research organisations; — provides an update on the adequacy of measurement methods used to assess the electrical performance of PV products and prototypes., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables

To support the on-going preparatory activities on the feasibility of applying the EcoDesign, EU Energy label, EU Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy instruments to solar photovoltaic modules, inverters and systems, this report aims to: • Identify, describe and compare existing standards and new standards under development, relevant to energy performance, reliability, degradation and lifetime. • Identify aspects not covered by existing standards, for which transitional methods may be needed., JRC.C.2-Energy Efficiency and Renewables