What to use as backing for Sylgard solar panels?

With more than 30 years of experience, and installations in over 160 countries, BP Solar is one of the world’s leading
solar companies. It has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Spain, India and China.

Dr. Jean Posbic, director of Technology Projects, BP Solar, tells the story: “In 1982, the array started at a 200kW
nominal power and consisted of 52 parallel strings. Each string contained 60 modules, of 55Wto 65W, connected in series. The
unframed modules used a silicone resin encapsulation.

The whole system was stand-alone using a storage battery until 1987 when the systemwas converted to an uninterruptable
power supply, then in 2000 to a pure grid-tied system.”

FAST FORWARD 25 YEARS
After 15 years of service, exposed to all types of weather in Maryland, USA, followed by 10 years in storage, BP Solar ran testing to determine how well the modules still performed.

“Some of the modules removed a few years back were brought in and retested and showed little or no electrical
degradation,” Posbic says. “The array is now being looked at for in-depth makeover in order to ensure many more
years of operation.”

Specifically, testing showed the panel’s power rating performance had only declined by 5 percent over a quarter century.
“We understand that durability is one of the critical factors PV producers and other solar manufacturers are looking for,” says
Allison Ashbrook, Americas commercial manager, Dow Corning Solar Solutions. “It’s worth noting that after such a long time, this panel is in outstanding shape. It’s completelyconstructed out of silicone encapsulation; noback sheet was used. There has been no degradation in the silicone and the panelis still operating as if it were new. This isthe kind of durability and sustained
performance PV producers require.”