Forensic Analysis of Failed Photovoltaic Connectors

Tapasvi Lolla1, Wayne Li1, Laurie Burnham2, Bruce King2 1Electric Power Research Institute, Charlotte, NC, United States /2Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, United States

With the rapid rise in the adoption of solar generation across both commercial and residential applications, it is increasingly important to address the operational factors that impact the safety and reliability of solar assets. Failures of PV connectors are widely recognized as a safety and fire hazard as well as a main contributor to the degraded performance of solar-based generation. Multiple reasons have been cited to explain the failures of such PV connectors, from contraindicated cross-mating to improper installation to quality assurance during manufacturing. But  detailed studies  of failed connectors to examine their as metallurgical composition or plating quality or even the physical-chemical reactions that might occur as a result of poor installation practices are lacking.  The work described here represents a detailed effort to identify the root causes of connector failure through forensics analysis. This research is part of a 3-year DOE sponsored investigation of PV connector reliability in the US, which includes the economic impact of connector failures on solar generating assets; site inspections to look at installation practices and frequency of field failures and forensic investigations on a well-pedigreed population of failed PV connectors to establish the underlying cause for failure. Findings from forensic investigations performed on some of the PV connectors collected in this project are presented in this work.