This part of IEC 63202 describes procedures for measuring the light-induced degradation (LID) of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells in simulated sunlight. The magnitude of LID in a crystalline silicon PV cell is determined by comparing maximum output power at Standard Test Conditions (STC) before, and after, exposure to simulated sunlight at a specified temperature and irradiance.

The purpose of this document is to provide standardized PV cell LID information to help PV module manufacturers in minimizing the mismatch between cells within the same module, thereby maximizing power yield.

When compared to PV module LID measurements described in the IEC 61215 series, several extra experimental factors have been found to show significant impact on the PV cell LID test, which were not considered by IEC 61215‑2. This document provides a conditioning and measurements procedure and parameter settings required for consistent PV cell LID measurements.

LID magnitude is one important factor of cell quality. For cells from the same sorting bin, the most important factor is the distribution of output power after LID.