Combination of Al2o3 Dielectric Layer and Polyolefin Encapsulant to Mitigate Potential-Induced Degradation and Increase Reliability of Pv Modules

The combination of increasing photovoltaic (PV) installation operating voltages of over 1000 V and the discovery of modern PV technologies requires a thorough examination of the sensitivity to potential-induced degradation (PID). An additional dielectric aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) layer was coated on a p-type crystalline silicon solar cell to mitigate the effect of PID by reducing the shunting path. We also investigated the effect of PID in the modules fabricated using the conventionally used ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant and a newly developed next generation polyolefin elastomer (POE) encapsulant. The test was performed in a closed chamber by applying 1000 V between the electrodes and the Al frame and maintaining the conditions of a temperature 85 °C and a relative humidity of 85% for 96 h. Our results demonstrate that the design of the module structure using a POE encapsulant and a solar cell covered with an Al 2 O 3 dielectric layer exhibited a power drop of only 1.37%, while the power drop observed with the conventionally used structure using EVA and without the Al 2 O 3 dielectric layer on the cell was 7.61%. Therefore, the new design can successfully overcome the loss induced by PID in a PV system