Evaluation and comparison of crystalline silicon and thin-film photovoltaic solar cells technologies using data envelopment analysis

Abstract

In the recent years, electricity production from renewable energy sources especially solar energy has progressed a great deal. Solar energy is a locally available renewable resource which is the most plentiful, unfailing and clean of all the renewable energy resources till date. A solar cell also called photovoltaic cell or PV is the technology used to convert energy from sunlight directly into electricity. As the PV market grows, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the energy performance of photovoltaic solar cells technologies. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the performance of crystalline silicon and thin film PV technologies with the DEA (data envelopment analysis) method in four states (considering payback period factor, total factors, technical and economic factors). The results indicate that in the three states where in “total factors”, “technical factors” and “economic factors” have been considered as performance factors, the mean of efficiency scores for crystalline silicon is higher than the mean of efficiency scores for thin-film. But in the state where in “payback period factor” has been considered as performance factor, the mean of efficiency score for Thin-film is higher than the mean of efficiency score for crystalline Silicon.