pv magazine test: October 2023 Results
By George Touloupas
This article was originally published in pv magazine – December 2023 and January 2024 edition. Learn more about the pv magazine test here.
George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the October 2023 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
The first chart shows the meteo station data with irradiance and ambient temperature for October 2023. Due to an issue with the collection of information, system data is missing for Oct. 14 to Oct. 16. We observed that the energy yield figures of several topperforming products are very close, and this could render the numbered ranking method we have been using less meaningful. CEA is currently working on a new ranking system that will adapt to these new trends and be more representative of product performance.
The average bifacial boost is 10.20% for October 2023. Bifacial boost is defined as the relative advantage of the average specific energy yield of all bifacial products compared to the average specific energy yield of all monofacial mono PERC products.
Table 1: Bifacial boost - July to October 2023
Table 2: Specific energy-yield ranking of bifacial modules - July to October 2023
Table 3: Specific energy-yield ranking of monofacial modules - July to October 2023
Figure 1: Daily temperature and irradiance data - October 2023
Figure 2: Specific energy yield of bifacial and monofacial modules - October 2023
Figure 3: Relative yield of different technologies - October 2023
Notes on the energy yield measurements:
The energy yield comparison among various technologies, including bifacial boost, will be analyzed using products installed after the beginning of 2019.
The energy yield is given in Wh/Wp and calculated by dividing the energy produced by the module by the Pmax at STC of the module. This Pmax is the maximum STC power after a process of stabilization.
The results are grouped in categories, per module type.
The bifacial boost depends on many parameters: the bifaciality factor, the installation geometry, the albedo of the ground, and the sun angle and diffuse irradiance. The ground in this case is gray gravel.
Test Cooperation
pv magazine test is a cooperative effort involving pv magazine, APsystems, CEA, and Gsolar. All testing procedures are carried out at Gsolar’s test laboratory in Xi’an, China. CEA supervises these tests and designed both the indoor and outdoor testing procedures.
Huatian Xu explains how Intertek CEA will continue testing and monitoring PV modules independently through its own R&D program following the conclusion of the pv magazine test program earlier this year.
George Touloupas and Huatian Xu of Intertek CEA analyze the January 2026 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installations in Yinchuan, China, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Intertek CEA, and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the November-December 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installations in Yinchuan, China, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
pv magazine Test: George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Intertek CEA, and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the October 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installations in Yinchuan, China, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Intertek CEA, and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the September 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installations in Yinchuan, China, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Intertek CEA, and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the August 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installations in Yinchuan, China, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Intertek CEA, and Huatian Xu, the company’s Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the first three months of performance data from the new pv magazine outdoor test installation in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
George Touloupas, Intertek CEA’s Vice President of ESG and New Services, and Huatian Xu, CEA’s Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the May and June 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installation in Yinchuan, China.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Intertek CEA, and Huatian Xu, Intertek CEA’s Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the April 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installation in Yinchuan, China.
SEG Solar and Astronergy supplied new tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules, alongside an n-type back-contact sample from Aiko, for installation in the first week of March 2025. To add these new products to the comparison table in these results, we removed the production data from before March 7. Due to downtime for system upgrades, we also did not capture data for three days in March and therefore had to remove those days from the total energy yield calculation. Finally, three products using 210 mm square cells were removed from the data, as we identified anomalies in the production figures caused by the maximum power point tracking algorithm. The data from those products will be reported again as soon as the issues are resolved.
At the end of February 2025, three new samples - two tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) samples from SEG Solar and Astronergy and our first n-type back contact sample from Aiko – arrived in Yinchuan and were installed at the beginning of March. The outdoor data for these will be published next month.
The new outdoor test field in Yinchuan, China, began operations on Dec. 9, 2024. Due to system modifications, the data of Dec. 23 were removed. In January, we were close to getting a full month’s worth of data, but unfortunately, due to an operational error, we lost data for several modules after Jan. 24. At present, this problem has been solved and we expect that a full month’s data will be presented in the next issue of pv magazine.
After more than seven years, pv magazine test is entering a new phase. Significant changes are on the horizon as we update and overhaul the program. George Touloupas, Vice President, ESG and New Services at Clean Energy Associates (CEA), and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality at CEA, introduce the new “pv magazine test 2.0” setup to assess PV modules in the lab and outdoors.
George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality at Clean Energy Associates, presents the November and December 2024 results from the pv magazine test site in Xi’an, China. These are the final results from this installation, as we prepare to launch a brand new pv magazine test program for 2025 – the full details will appear in next month’s edition.
George Touloupas, CEA’s Senior Director of Technology and Quality, and Huatian Xu, CEA’s Associate Director of Technology and Quality, present a summary of the 2024 pv magazine test results, the ranking throughout the year, and the trends that emerge.
George Touloupas, Senior Director of Technology and Quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the October 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, Senior Director of Technology and Quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the September 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, Senior Director of Technology and Quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the August 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, Senior Director of Technology and Quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the July 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, Senior Director of Technology and Quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the June 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, Senior Director of Technology and Quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the April 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality for Clean Energy Associates (CEA), analyzes the March 2024 energy-yield results from the outdoor testing field in Xi’an, China.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Clean Energy Associates, and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the March 2025 results from the pv magazine outdoor test installation in Yinchuan, China.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Clean Energy Associates, and Huatian Xu, Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the March 2025 results from the pv magazine outdoor test installation in Yinchuan, China.
George Touloupas, Vice President of ESG and New Services at Clean Energy Associates (CEA), and Huatian Xu, CEA’s Director of Technology and Quality, analyze the April 2025 results from the pv magazine test outdoor installation in Yinchuan, China.
October 2023 batch of energy yield results from the pv magazine outdoor test field in Xi’an, China. The average bifacial boost is 10.20%. As the energy yield figures of several top-performing products are very close, CEA is working on a new ranking system that will be more representative of product performance.