Polyolefin as PID-resistant encapsulant material in PV modules

摘要

Crystalline Si solar cells as mounted in photovoltaic modules are historically encapsulated using ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) to provide mechanical support, protection against environmental exposure and electrical isolation. Nevertheless, new requirements in the final photovoltaic grid connection cannot successfully be reach by using this polymer current chemical composition. This phenomenon is known as the potential induced degradation (PID). Photovoltaic encapsulant industry has developed innovative materials to overcome this potential aging. One of these new materials is a thermoplastic commonly named as polyolefin. Photovoltaic modules using this encapsulation material have been fabricated in an industrial line and they have been subjected to PID tests. Our results demonstrate that polyolefin can successfully overcome PID test. Therefore it can be considered as a suitable EVA substitutive. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.