Accelerated testing of an encapsulant for PV modules

Evergreen Solar has developed a new encapsulant material for use in PV modules. In this paper we report on: the long term UV stability of this material in comparison with fast cured EVA; the effects of humidity-freeze cycling of both materials; and the bond strength of this new encapsulant to glass. The results indicate that Evergreen's new encapsulant can be expected to have a much longer service life than that of EVA.