A "combi-encapsulant" for enhanced performance of glass-free lightweight crystalline silicon solar PV modules

Lightweight crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV modules with a weight of 5kg/m(2), by substituting the typical front glass with a thin polymer sheet and the standard back sheet by a composite sandwich structure are presented here. With this work, we propose the use of a "combi-encapsulant", as a front sheet for the proposed lightweight composite PV modules. With the final goal of manufacturing a lightweight structure able to withstand environmental and mechanical stress tests (following the IEC 61215 [3]), as combined sequential tests.