Industry leaders at PV magazine Week Europe 2025 said manufacturers are implementing measures to limit ultraviolet-induced degradation of TOPCon (tunnel oxide-passivated contact) solar panels and strengthen resilience against hail damage to protect performance and reduce financial risk.
Manufacturers are working to address the impact of ultraviolet-induced degradation (UVID) on TOPCon cells, according to a webinar held as part of pv magazine Week Europe 2025.
Analysis during a session on module quality and risk held as part of pv magazineLast week’s virtual conference highlighted the growing concerns surrounding UVID on n-type TOPCon solar panels as a hot topic in the industry. Recent research from Australia and the United States found that UVID is an important factor that can influence cell performance.
Klaus Hofmeister, product marketing manager at Trina Solar, told attendees that the company has developed its own iTopcon technology to limit the risk.
“The key is in the passivation stack at the front of the cell,” he explained. “By designing a good passivation stack with all the layers in it, we can reduce the impact of the high-energy photons. And we can limit the damage to the interfacial layer and to the passivation itself.”
Hofmeister then shared Trina’s internal test data and third-party test data certified by the China General Certification Center, showing that “the protection actually works in real time at the module level. [and] application in practice.”
“I don’t think anyone should fear that UVID is a process killer or a technology killer within the TOPCon industry,” Hofmeister added.
Hofmeister also said that the measures that can be taken to prevent or reduce UVID are known across the industry. “I can’t speak for everyone else, but I hope and wish everyone would do it. Then in a few years we won’t have to talk about this problem anymore.”
The webinar also focused on the impact of hail events, which are increasing in severity and frequency due to climate change.
Thomas Weber, senior project manager at Kiwa PI Berlin, told attendees that he believes “the big problems still await us when it comes to glass breakage.”
He said design processes do not reflect the fact that glass has become a load-bearing element in solar energy and that current testing methods fail to prevent breakage.
“We urgently need new standards, practical criteria for module supply agreements, production test protocols, lifespan testing and possibly strength verification of PV glass, similar to requirements in the construction industry,” Weber added.
During a panel discussion on hail and module risk, Jon Previtali, VP and senior principal engineer at VDE Americas, said hail is already “a big problem” in the United Stateswith approximately $600 million in hail losses in recent years.
“It is absolutely important to test beyond IEC standards to test the full range of hail impacts that can occur in the field,” Previtali advised, before highlighting Italy, the Balkan coast and eastern Spain as potential hotspots for hail damage in Europe.
Thomas Garabeitian, head of innovation and research at SolarPower Europe, said there has been “a bit of a wake-up call in Europe about the impact of hail on PV” after incidents in Italy in 2023. “People around here thought hail was a risk, but a risk is a bit hard to feel until it actually happens,” he said. “And this is typically the kind of thing we’re trying to address.”
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