Polyolefins major Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) and its joint venture Borouge (Ruwais / United Arab Emirates; www.borouge.com) have introduced two “Quentys” polyolefin encapsulant film grades that they said improve the long-term performance and reliability of photovoltaic (PV) modules.

The two grades are “BPO8828F” , a front or back encapsulant film for use in all types of solar modules, and “BPO8828WH”, a white reflective back encapsulant film for dual glass or standard modules. They will be available to customers worldwide from the beginning of the third quarter, 2018.

Borealis said the films can help optimise PV module production – thanks to a reduction of up to 50% in the lamination cycle, lower investment costs for increasing output and a better spread of fixed costs across more modules.

The company said this is the second major application based on Quentys to be launched this year and follows the introduction in May of “Icosolar” CPO 3G, a co-extruded PP solar backsheet developed in partnership with film specialist Isovoltaic Solinex (Lebring / Austria; www.isovoltaic.com).

Maria Ciliberti, vice president of marketing & new business development at Borealis, said solar power has the potential to transform the global electricity industry. “With our new business model of providing encapsulant film to photovoltaic model makers, we keep discovering innovative ways of making renewable energy sources increasingly viable throughout the world,” she says. The films are produced by strategic partners in Europe and Asia, and marketed and sold by Borealis and Borouge.

According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA, Paris / France; www.iea.org) “Renewables 2017” report, new global solar PV capacity grew by 50% in 2016, reaching more than 74 GW, with China accounting for nearly half of the expansion. IEA also noted that, for the first time, solar PV additions rose faster than any other fuel, surpassing the net growth in coal.