Reimagining Solar Durability: Alishan’s Breakthroughs in Encapsulation for India’s Harshest Climates – Nikhil Agrawal, Director Alishan Green Energy

How do innovative encapsulants like EPE and POE improve the performance and lifespan of solar modules in India’s climate?
As we are aware, EVA based traditional encapsulants suffer degradation modes like yellowing or browning and delamination due to higher moisture ingress. We started with non-EVA based solution that is POE to overcome these limitations as POE is non-polar in nature and has a very high barrier to moisture. It is by far the excellent encapsulation solution for any cell technology. However, it suffered from low market acceptance and higher prices and a rapid acceptance of co-extruded multilayered films completely owned the market. Alishan EPE, enjoys the benefits of excellent maneuverability, better DH and UV resistance, no PID loss and commercial viability. We have extensively tested this product for accelerated ageing conditions like 3XIEC. For Topcon G2G modules, if used on both the sides of the cells, it offers negligible power loss after 288 PID cycles and slowly people have started using this for G2BS models too. Though in our opinion, best combination would be POE/EPE for G2G Topcon modules where modules are aimed to installed at harsh weather conditions like extreme humidity or heat.

What sets Alishan’s coated backsheets apart from traditional ones, and how do they enhance module durability and efficiency?
We at Alishan were the first in India to start with the coated backsheets due to their advantage of superior UV resistance and excellent Bifaciality for transparent versions. Alishan’s flagship backsheets ABS-CPC and ABS-CPC-T are made up from coating of fluoro/no-fluoro polymers to offer better reliability and environmentally friendly products. On the other hand, these backsheets come with extremely lower WVTR which allows more flexible choice of encapsulants too. Traditional laminated backsheets suffer major problems like delamination, chalking and blistering. The coated backsheets are made up as a single layer where all these degradation modes are eliminated and allows a safer operation under any environmental condition. For bifacial operation, our backsheets come with light capping properties which enhances the power generation.

How does Alishan ensure quality control and reliability with its recent NABL accreditation?
From day 1 of our operation, we have put quality at the forefront and will continue with the same policy. NABL accreditation is just the validation of our in-house procedures and testing criteria which we have implemented well before the commercial production stages. We believe that continuous quality improvements is the key in achieving strong credibility in the market. We have ensured that our control plans and quality measures are inline with the latest IEC, ASTM and ISO standards. We thoroughly undergo internal and external audits and continuously improve the procedures with the feedback from internal and external stakeholders.
All our products are tested for 3XIEC requirements both at our in-house labs and at customer’s end.

How does Alishan’s ‘Make in India’ initiative support the growth and self-reliance of the Indian solar industry?
We have come a long way with the steady and strong operations from just 600 MW to 4.2 GW now and we are aiming at adding more capacities by year end. Our vision is to cater at least 10% domestic demand by 2026 and to remain India’s largest independent manufacturer of encapsulants. If government policies become more lucrative and in favor of domestic manufacturing, we are ready to expand upto 15 GW by 2026. We are also working upon the establishments of JV facilities with couple of Tier-1 producers and trying to help the domestic manufacturing by technology transfer too.

How does your in-house R&D contribute to developing products like Fast Cure and Ultrafast Cure EVA encapsulants for technologies like TOPCon and HJT?
We have a very strong team of R&D and collaborations with labs in India, China and Europe. We have also a very strong procedure for reverse engineering and product development. Our flagship product Alishan EPE and Alishan EVA have already accepted at majority module makers for their TOPCON models and we are still improving the products for better reliability. We are already working upon the encapsulants for Topcon which works well under extreme UV dosage and remain stable under highly humid conditions. Alishan EPE-NT is the product that we have recently launched for mitigation the UVID and Moisture induced degradation in Topcon modules. Other than this, we have Alishan EPE-DC, Alishan EVA-DC for HJT modules where UV part of the solar spectrum is converted into useful light for power generation. We also identified the issues with conventional EVA, which is of yellowing or corrosion led power degradation. To overcome such issues, we have developed new formulation which regulates the acid inside the modules and quite efficiently manages the degradation well below 3%.