BP Solarex Lab Test

BP Solar Modules Score Highest in Independent Laboratory Test

by Windy Dankoff

The Testing Center for Photovoltaic Components (TISO) is a laboratory in Switzerland, supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. TISO has tested and compared the performance of PV modules from 16 major manufacturers. The tests include BP Solar BP-580 and BP-585 modules. BP scored among the highest when comparing measured power vs. manufacturers rated power after one and two years of exposure. More significantly, BP scored HIGHEST IN ENERGY PRODUCTION in terms of watt-hours per day per rated watt.

What does this mean?

	BP modules actually produce their specified output, unlike other leading brands, and
	BP modules show superiority during lower light conditions, resulting in the highest daily watt-hour output.
	They are made in the USA.

MODULES TESTED AT THE LEEE-TISO CENTRE

Tested modules (excel file) to download

	Manufacturer	Module	Cell	P_n	P₀	P₆	P₁₂	P₂₄	(P₀-P_n)/P_n	(P₆-P₀)/P₀	(P₁₂-P₆)/P₆	(P₁₂-P₀)/P₀	(P₂₄-P₁₂)/P₁₂	(P₁₂-P_n)/P_n	Test
				[W]	[W]	[W]	[W]	[W]							year
1	USSC	UPM880	a-Si	22	25.6		17.9	16.9	16.4%			-30.1%	-5.6%	-18.6%	1993
2	BP Solar	BP460	m-Si	60	53.6		52.3		-10.7%			-2.4%		-12.8%	1993
3	Siemens	M55	m-Si	53	52.3		49.4	48	-1.3%			-5.5%	-2.8%	-6.8%	1993
4	Sharp	NT907S	m-Si	70	69.4		65.5		-0.9%			-5.6%		-6.4%	1993
5	Photowatt	BPX47500	p-Si	48	40.7		40.4		-15.2%			-0.7%		-15.8%	1993
6	Solarex	MSX60	p-Si	60	57.3		55	52.3	-4.5%			-4.0%	-4.9%	-8.3%	1993
7	Helios	H60	m-Si	60	53.6		51.4	50.7	-10.7%			-4.1%	-1.4%	-14.3%	1994
8	Photowatt	PWX500	p-Si	46	48.9		47.1	46.6	6.3%			-3.7%	-1.1%	2.4%	1994
9	Kyocera	LA361K51S	p-Si	51	51.1		49.4	48.9	0.2%			-3.3%	-1.0%	-3.1%	1995
10	Solarex	MSX120	p-Si	120	115		110.8	107.3	-4.0%			-3.8%	-3.2%	-7.7%	1995
11	GPV	GPV110M	m-Si	110	107		105.4	104.6	-3.1%			-1.1%	-0.8%	-4.2%	1995
12	BP Solar	BP585	m-Si	85	84.6		83.2	83.8	-0.5%			-1.7%	0.7%	-2.1%	1996
13	Newtec	SDZ3610	m-Si	36	35.4		34.7	34.4	-1.7%			-2.0%	-0.9%	-3.6%	1996
14	USSC	UPM880	a-Si	22	26.9		17.5	17.1	22.3%			-34.9%	-2.3%	-20.5%	1996
15	ASE	PS94SP100	p-Si	100	102		100.1		1.6%			-1.5%		0.1%	1996
16	Solution	-	m-Si	55	54.6		53.2	52.7	-0.7%			-2.6%	-0.9%	-3.3%	1996
17	APS	EP50	a-Si	50	72.6		48.9		45.2%			-32.6%		-2.2%	1996
18	ASE	PM6008A068L	a-Si	25	28.1		20.7		12.4%			-26.3%		-17.2%	1996
19	ASE	ASE50PWX	p-Si	49	46.7	43.3	42.6		-4.7%	-7.3%	-1.6%	-8.8%		-13.1%	1998
20	BP Solar	BP580	m-Si	80	81.1	79.3	79		1.4%	-2.2%	-0.4%	-2.6%		-1.3%	1998
21	GPV	GPV75M	m-Si	75	65.2	63.2	62		-13.1%	-3.1%	-1.9%	-4.9%		-17.3%	1998
22	Kyocera	KC80	p-Si	80	71.4	68.3	66.8		-10.8%	-4.3%	-2.2%	-6.4%		-16.5%	1998
23	Solarex	MST43MV	a-Si	43	44.9	40.1	39.9		4.4%	-10.7%	-0.5%	-11.1%		-7.2%	1998
24	Photowatt	PWX500	p-Si	50	43.2	40.1	39.7		-13.6%	-7.2%	-1.0%	-8.1%		-20.6%	1998
25	Newtec	SDZ34-10	m-Si	34	32.6	32.6	32.7		-4.1%	0.0%	0.3%	0.3%		-3.8%	1998
26	Solar Fabrik	SF75	m-Si	75	64.7	64	64.2		-13.7%	-1.1%	0.3%	-0.8%		-14.4%	1998
27	Siemens	SP75	m-Si	75	72.6	68.6	68.6		-3.2%	-5.5%	0.0%	-5.5%		-8.5%	1998
28	Atlantis	Sunslates	m-Si	12.5	10.2	9.5	9.2		-18.4%	-6.9%	-3.2%	-9.8%		-26.4%	1998
29	Uni-Solar	US64	a-Si	64	73.6		52.1		15.0%			-29.2%		-18.6%	1998
30	Arco Solar	ASI16-2300	m-Si	37	33.9	33.6	33.5		-8.4%	-0.9%	-0.3%	-1.2%		-9.5%	1999
31	Helios	H800A	m-Si	80	73.2	71	69.7		-8.5%	-3.0%	-1.8%	-4.8%		-12.9%	1999
32	Isofoton	I55	m-Si	55	47.8	47.8	47		-13.1%	0.0%	-1.7%	-1.7%		-14.5%	1999
33	Solarwatt	M30-16GEGK	m-Si	30	25.5	25.9	24.9		-15.0%	1.6%	-3.9%	-2.4%		-17.0%	1999
34	Eurosolare	PL800	p-Si	72	67.3	62.7	62.6		-6.5%	-6.8%	-0.2%	-7.0%		-13.1%	1999
35	Shell Solar	RSM100	p-Si	98	91.3	85.2	84		-6.8%	-6.7%	-1.4%	-8.0%		-14.3%	1999
36	Pilkington	SFM36Bx	p-Si	70	64.5	62.3	61.6		-7.9%	-3.4%	-1.1%	-4.5%		-12.0%	1999
37	Atersa	APX90	p-Si	90	72.9				-19.0%						2000
38	ASE	ASE-100-GT-FT	p-Si	100	104				4.0%						2000
39	Arco Solar	ASI16-2300	m-Si	37	33.5				-9.5%						2000
40	BP Solar	BP275F	m-Si	75	70.8				-5.6%						2000
41	Dunasolar	DS40	a-Si	40	38.6				-3.5%						2000
42	GPV	GPV75P	p-Si	75	65.1				-13.2%						2000
43	Kyocera	KC60	p-Si	60	56.1				-6.5%						2000
44	Eurosolare	M500A	m-Si	55	51.8				-5.8%						2000
45	Trimex Tesla	M-S36-53	m-Si	53	49.9				-5.8%						2000
46	Solarex	MSX-83	p-Si	83	81.1				-2.3%						2000
47	Photowatt	PW1000	p-Si	91	87.5				-3.8%						2000
48	Shell Solar	RSM50	p-Si	49	46.5				-5.1%						2000
49	Siemens	SM55	m-Si	55	54				-1.8%						2000
50	Siemens	ST40	CIS	38	39.8				4.7%						2000
51	Atlantis	Sunslates	m-Si	12	10.8				-10.0%						2000
52	Sunware	SW50T	m-Si	50	42.2				-15.6%						2000
53	Uni-Solar	US64	a-Si	64	68.4				6.9%						2000

	Total	m-Si	25				Mean	m-Si	-7.2%			-3.2%	-1.0%	-10.0%
		p-Si	19					p-Si	-5.9%			-5.0%	-2.5%	-10.2%
		a-Si	9					a-Si	13.8%			-27.4%	-3.9%	-14.0%
								All	-3.2%			-7.8%	-2.0%	-10.7%

P_n:nominal power

P₀:before exposure

P₆:after 6 months exposure

P₁₂:after 12 months exposure

P₂₄:after 24 months exposure