The thesis topic is reliability and durability study of photovoltaic systems. Because of the lack of feedback, to carry out such a study implies both to provide experimental procedures for quali cation based on accelerated life testing conducted on critical components of photovoltaic systems and to develop tools to simulate the reliability of components constituting the complex system. So initially, we dedicated the reliability study of photovoltaic modules (main components of the complex photovoltaic system). An original methodology based on accelerated life testing has allowed us to estimate the reliability of these components in the two main failure modes such as corrosion and discoloration of encapsulant. The originality lies in the consideration of environmental conditions variability (considered stochastic) and the coupling of both the accelerated and degradation tests. A toolbox, PVMODREL (for Photovoltaic Module Reliability) has been developed for this purpose. In a second step, we posted us on the scale of photovoltaic systems. We proposed to simulate some parameters characterizing their dependability (including reliability, availability, durability) based on a representation of the system with these di erent modes of operation and dysfunction (both instantaneous failure that degradation over time). We used stochastic Petri networks nested on several levels to be situated, for each component, at scales for which failure modes could be seized and made. Finally, the thesis can provide both the basic methodology and simulation tools to describe and ensure the lifetime of photovoltaic systems.
