Martin Springer

Martin Springer is a Researcher IV in Materials Science at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he joined in 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher in the Photovoltaic Performance and Reliability group. His work focuses on the durability and reliability assessment of emerging photovoltaic cell interconnect technologies, with significant contributions to understanding early failure mechanisms in modern PV systems.

Dr. Springer's educational background includes:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), completed in 2017
• Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), completed in 2014
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), completed in 2013
• Master's degree in Innovation Management from University of Colorado Colorado Springs, expected completion at end of 2020

Martin Springer's research spans photovoltaic technologies and reliability engineering with expertise in photovoltaic module design, interconnect technologies, reliability and lifetime assessments, and numerical modeling. His research fingerprint shows strong specialization in Photovoltaic Modules Engineering (100%), Photovoltaics Engineering (77%), Finite Element Methods (46%), and Interconnects Engineering (46%). His work combines materials science with practical engineering to improve photovoltaic system reliability and performance.

Dr. Springer's recent publications demonstrate a consistent research trajectory focused on photovoltaic system reliability, with 39 total research outputs showing increasing productivity (1 in 2019, 6 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 2 in 2022, 10 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 4 in 2025). His work particularly addresses field performance data analysis and early failure mechanisms in modern PV modules.

His notable research contributions include:

• Investigation of frequent early failures in modern glass-glass photovoltaic modules
• Development of open data sets for photovoltaic system reliability assessment
• Leadership in the PV Fleet Performance Data Initiative
• Advancing understanding of system availability metrics for photovoltaic installations

Prior to NREL, Dr. Springer worked as a design and computational engineer at Waagner-Biro Austria Stage Systems AG (2009-2014) and conducted doctoral research at TU Wien focusing on fatigue damage accumulation in power semiconductors and numerical simulation techniques for reliability assessment of power electronic devices.