Here we report the influence of thermal treatment on the performance of high efficiency polymer solar cells with the bulk heterojunction films of poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b'] dithiophene-alt-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate] (PTB7-Th) and [6,6]-phenyl $C_{71}$ butyric acid methyl ester ($PC_{71}BM$). The crystalline nanostructure of PTB7-Th:$PC_{71}BM$ layers, which were annealed at three different temperatures, was investigated by employing synchrotron radiation grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) technique. Results showed that the device performance was slightly reduced by thermal annealing at $50^{\circ}C$ but became significantly poor by thermal annealing at $100^{\circ}C$. The poor device performance by thermal annealing was attributed to the collapse in the crystalline nanostructure of PTB7-Th in the PTB7-Th:$PC_{71}BM$ layers as evidenced by the GIXD measurements that exhibited huge reduction in the intensity of PTB7-Th (100) peak even at $50^{\circ}C$.

High efficiency thin film solar cells require an absorber layer with high absorption and low defect, a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) film with high transmittance of over 80% and a high conductivity. Furthermore, light can be captured through the glass substrate and sent to the light absorbing layer to improve the efficiency. In this paper, morphology formation on the surface of glass substrate was investigated by using HF, mainly classified as random etching and periodic etching. We discussed about the etch mechanism, etch rate and hard mask materials, and periodic light trapping structure.

The growth of intermetallic compounds is an important factor in the reliability of solar cells. Especially, the temperature change in the soldering process greatly affects the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer. In this study, we investigated the intermetallic compound growth by Sn-diffusion in solder joints of solar cells. The thickness of the intermetallic compound layer was analyzed by IR lamp power and hot plate temperature control, and the correlation between the intermetallic compound layer and the adhesive strength was confirmed by a $90^{\circ}$ peel test. In order to investigate the growth of the intermetallic compound layer during isothermal aging, the growth of the intermetallic compound layer was analyzed at $85^{\circ}C$ and 85% for 500 h. In addition, the activation energy of Sn was calculated. The diffusion coefficient of the intermetallic compound layer was simulated and compared with experimental results to predict the long-term reliability.

We have examined the issues on the measurement of bifacial photovoltaic(PV) devices that should be considered in order to ensure a measurement accuracy beyond a certain level and the comparability between the bifacial PV devices. Based on the results of various experiments and previous studies, solutions for these measurement issues are suggested. The most significant technical issues in the performance measurement of the bifacial PV devices are 1) elimination of the effect due to the light reflection on the sample holder surface and 2) the measurement of the expected power generation gain in outdoor operation. The effect due to the light reflection on the sample holder surface can be eliminated by using an anti-reflective sample holder. In case of a reflective sample holder, if the bifacial device have a linear characteristic with respect to the irradiance of incident light, it has been confirmed (through some previous studies and additional experiment) that exact measurement results can be obtained by the correction of the measurement data. In addition, it was also confirmed that the expected power generation gain in the outdoor operation can be obtained by three different methods along with the basic concepts of the bifaciality coefficient, the albedo, and the effective front irradiance.

The interconnecting shingled solar cells method shows extremely high ratio active area per total area and has the excellent potential for high power PV (photovoltaic). Compared to the conventional module, it can have much more active area due to busbar-free structure. The properties of ECA (electrically conductive adhesives) are significant to fabricate the shingled array PV since it should be used in terms of electric and structural connection. Various ECA were tried and characterized to optimize the soldiering conditions. The open circuit voltage of shingled array cells showed a three-fold increase and efficiency was also increased by 1.63%. The shingled array cells used in CE3103WLV showed the highest power and in CA3556HF the lowest curing temperature and very fast curing time.

This paper analyzes the correlation between Net Benefit Test (NBT) and System marginal price (SMP), which has a significant impact on the allocation of demand response (DR) resources in resource scheduling and commitment (RSC) process, based on the performance data of the demand resource market which has been established in 2014. Demand resources compete with generation resources in the RSC process, and it is prescribed to use demand resources only when net benefit occurs. Analysis result shows that the larger the SMP than the Net Benefit Threshold Price (NBTP), the more the winning bid of demand response resource was. It is interpreted that the introduction of NBT in DR market is justified. The demand resource market has been steadily growing. It is required to expand the scope of resources up to the small-sized DR, and to expand the functionalities of demand resources not only in the current energy market but also in the reserve market in the future. In order for that, institutional improvements are required.