ENGAGE™ PV Polyolefin Elastomers
Sustainable business starts with a solar panel made with the optimal materials
In today’s highly competitive solar energy landscape, the longevity and reliability of photovoltaic modules are key to driving long-term success in renewable energy. Choosing optimal encapsulants—the material that holds solar cells together—is crucial for PV modules that deliver strong performance over their decades-long service life.
ENGAGE™ PV Polyolefin Elastomers (POE) support PV modules with exceptional protection, long-term performance and reliability at a lower overall system lifetime cost. This helps businesses create more innovative solar panels and harness more power to drive sustainable success for many years.
While materials like ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) have long been used for encapsulants, they degrade over time, releasing corrosive acetic acid and yellowing, which negatively impacts PV module power output. Dow designed ENGAGE™ PV POEs to offer excellent performance compared to most competing encapsulant materials, including PID-Free EVA Encapsulants.
Key attributes of ENGAGE™ PV POE
- Enhanced electrical properties – extremely high volume resistivity and low leakage current
- 10-20X lower water vapor transmission rate (WVTR)
- Significantly reduced degradation rates with PID Zero performance, especially for high-efficiency bifacial solar cells
- Increased energy output, operating efficiency, reliability and extended service life
- Lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and total system costs
- Non-yellowing
- No generation of toxic, corrosive acetic acid
- Increased UV and weather resistance
Dow offers various grades of ENGAGE™ PV POE designed to meet a wide variety of application needs, including commercial, residential or utility projects. Fabrication advantages include:
- Optimized glass/glass film for crystalline silicon (c-Si)
- Low UV cut-off film
- Standard UV cut-off film
ENGAGE™ PV POE has been tested extensively to ensure its exceptional performance over time.
Power retention:
Third-party testing by Fraunhofer showed ENGAGE™ PV POEs exhibited virtually no PID during service life, with a power loss of 0.3% versus 35% with EVA-based film.¹
Weathering:
After alternating cycles of damp heat and QUV exposure over extended periods of time, a module built with ENGAGE™ PV POE film showed more consistent power compared to a module using EVA films.
Encapsulant film degradation under UV:
Even after 10,000 hours of Xenon Arc weathering testing, encapsulant films made with ENGAGE™ PV POEs exhibited no increased yellowness, while EVA film turned an evident yellow color.²
Field testing of PV encapsulate films:
Dow has installed a variety of solar modules in Hainan to test and generate long-term data on the reliability and power generation capabilities of ENGAGE™ PV POE films in comparison with EPE or EVA alternatives in various kinds of commercialized high-efficiency solar cells. Dow’s Hainan test site contains a total of nine different strings: three strings of PERC modules with POE, EPE, and EVA films; three strings of TOPCon modules with POE, EPE, and EVA films; and three strings of HJT modules with POE, EPE, and EVA films. The data collected from this site allows us to demonstrate the high reliability of our high-efficiency bifacial modules using ENGAGE™ PV POE films.
(1) Based on tests conducted by the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP. Chart provided by Fraunhofer. Additional information is available upon request.
(2) Based on Dow testing that compared a module film made with ENGAGE™ PV POE to a module made with an EVA-based film. Additional information is available upon request.
The Material of Choice for PV Films
Watch this 1-minute video to learn more about ENGAGE™ PV POE and its technical performance.
Partner with Dow to unlock the full potential of your solar energy project
Dow is a long-time contributor in the solar energy value chain. Leveraging over 125 years of expertise in materials science, we work closely with PV module makers and solar plant operators to design enhanced renewable technologies that help companies meet both short-term and long-term business and environmental goals.
Our award-winning ENGAGE™ PV POEs are manufactured in state-of-the-art facilities across the globe and backed by a dedicated team that combines outstanding technical support and customer service. Over the years, we have worked with many businesses to optimize performance and reduce lifetime costs of PV module systems.
Speak with Dow about ENGAGE™ PV POEs for solar cell encapsulants.
