Cell damage

[DomB]

Hi during some recent work at a customer's place we noticed one of their solar panels cells was damaged, pictures below. The array is about 5 years old.

The Voc of that panel was ~26v, whereas all the others were at ~35V.

As with shadows etc, could this one panel affect the output of the whole string and cause significantly reduced output?

Thanks!
p.s. we gave them a clean too!

 

[Gavin A]

26V makes it look like the bypass diode has kicked in to take the affected cells out of production anyway, in which case the losses would only be those associated with 1/3 of 1 panel being removed from production. If the bypass diode hadn't functioned then yes this cell would drag the rest down.

 

[DomB]

Appreciate that feedback. Thanks