Recyclability, Carbon Footprint and Fire Hazards of PV Backsheet
Giorgio Longoni, Fabio Scandroglio, Giovanni Fanizza and Joe Tseng
After 10 years and more than 40 GW of installed PV modules without any failure complaints, High-grade and modified PET films has been proven to be a suitable material for outdoor applications and able to ensure to the backsheet the necessary durability and reliability required by the PV industry. It is now becoming an interesting opportunity for the booming segment of the PV industry related to the Distributed Grid PV installations in China, specifically the roof-top installations. In fact for this specific sector, the PET-based backsheet has the following great advantages over the Fluoro-based backsheet: 1. Full recyclability at the End of the Life (EoL), 2. Low Carbon Footprint (CFP), 3. No emissions of toxic and poisonous gases during fire accidents. Details about these three topics will be provided in the presentation.