Unbiased testing lab Kiwa PVEL simply printed the twelfth version of its annual PV Module Reliability Scorecard. The digital useful resource is designed for photo voltaic trade stakeholders to entry testing insights gained from the corporate’s flagship Product Qualification Program (PQP). The PQP, a complete suite of prolonged reliability and efficiency assessments, helps consider photo voltaic modules below a variety of environmental and mechanical circumstances.
Credit score: Kiwa PVEL
New for 2026, ultraviolet induced degradation (UVID) has been included as a High Performer class, together with the earlier check classes: thermal biking (TC); damp warmth (DH); mechanical stress sequence (MSS); hail stress sequence (HSS); potential induced degradation (PID); gentle [and elevated temperature] induced degradation (LID+LETID); and PAN efficiency (PAN).
Within the twelfth version, Kiwa PVEL names a complete of 43 producers as “High Performers” in a number of of the assessments, though for the primary time, no single mannequin achieved High Performer standing throughout all assessments.
“Our 2026 Scorecard displays a market that’s advancing in efficiency whereas going through rising reliability pressures,” stated Tristan Erion-Lorico, VP of gross sales and advertising and marketing of Kiwa PVEL. “We’re seeing reductions in energy loss for some assessments and elevated power yields in our PAN testing. On the similar time, failure charges, significantly delamination and mechanical breakage, have reached new highs. These outcomes underscore that innovation and price reducing measures should be matched with constant high quality and strong design to make sure long-term area reliability in an more and more cost-conscious trade.”
Key highlights from the 2026 Scorecard:
- Some degradation decreased, however failures elevated: Energy loss diminished throughout some key assessments (UVID, PID, TC and DH), but total failure charges hit file highs with 87% of producers and 61% of BOMs experiencing not less than one failure.
- New High Performers: The annual checklist of High Performer producers is more and more dynamic, with 13 first-time High Performers and a few earlier High Performers notably lacking from this 12 months’s checklist.
- No single chief throughout all metrics: Whereas many producers achieved High Performer standing, no single mannequin met the High Performer threshold in each check.
- Failure varieties shifting and intensifying: Module breakage (particularly in MSS and HSS) stays the highest difficulty, however delamination surged considerably with 45% of producers having not less than one main delamination defect.
- Design and materials trade-offs matter: Price and effectivity optimizations (e.g., thinner encapsulants, zero-busbar designs, thinner frames) are linked to greater degradation or failure threat, highlighting the significance of balancing high quality and design.
- Efficiency good points proceed: Vitality yields as soon as once more elevated as a consequence of greater bifacialities and improved temperature coefficients, however LID degradation worsened barely, possible as a result of improve in new cell factories.
Cell cracking. Credit score: Kiwa PVEL
Obtainable on-line, the 2026 PV Module Reliability Scorecard encompasses a free High Performer search device, the place customers can get detailed outcomes by producer, module sort, and check class, in addition to export the checklist of High Performers for additional evaluation.
“Amid rising complexity throughout the worldwide power panorama, we’re happy to unveil this 12 months’s checklist of High Performers,” stated Kevin Gibson, Managing Director of Kiwa PVEL. “Whereas we’re seeing continued enhancements in efficiency and power yield, the rise in failure charges highlights the significance of unbiased, data-driven validation. In a market outlined by speedy innovation and price pressures, these insights assist stakeholders higher assess threat, differentiate high quality, and make extra assured long-term funding choices.”
To be eligible for the 2026 Scorecard, producers should have accomplished the PQP pattern manufacturing manufacturing unit witness after November 1, 2024; submitted not less than two factory-witnessed PV module samples to all PQP reliability assessments, as per Kiwa PVEL’s BOM check necessities; and have new High Performer outcomes that weren’t included within the 2025 Scorecard.
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