Coast Guard Marine Exposure Facilities for Naturally Aging Solar Photovoltaic Modules.

摘要

A program to evaluate photovoltaics in the marine environment has been undertaken by the Coast Guard Research and Development Center. This effort aims at development of suitable screening and qualification tests for solar photovoltaic energy systems intended for powering low voltage lighted aids to navigation. To assist in the attainment of these goals, two facilities have been established in proximity to the sea. One located at Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut, is characteristic of a northern marine climte with frequent frosts and cold winter cycles. The other, located in the south, at CG station Fort Lauderdale, Dania, Florida, is characteristic of a southern marine climate with no frost cycles and relatively year round constant temperatures. Together, they represent the extremes of climate under which the Coast Guard deploys aids to navigation. The two sites offer the Coast Guard a unique facility from which to access the reliability of solar photovoltaic energy system components in the marine environment, and to generate data essential to determining their cost-reliability relations. (Author)