Cover sheet for photovoltaic panel

This invention relates to a cover sheet for a photovoltaic panel, a photovoltaic module using such a panel, and a use of that panel, as well as methods of manufacture of such cover sheets.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are well known as a means for converting incident light - typically sunlight -  into electrical power. Remarkable progress in the development of PV modules has been made in recent years, leading to substantial cost reductions. Solar is now achieving 'grid parity' costs of energy generation in many parts of the world. PV is forecasted to make an important contribution to the mitigation of the world's growing energy problem. The global supply of PV modules has increased from 6GWp (peak Gigawatt) in 2009 to 95GWp in 2017 and 115 GWp in 2018. A total of 400GWp of solar power capacity was generating electricity worldwide at the end of 2017 (500 GW in 2018); this was sufficient to deliver almost 2% of the world energy needs.

According to a first aspect of the invention, we provide a cover sheet for a PV panel. The cover sheet comprising a transparent substrate and a coating on the substrate, the coating being such that the cover sheet is more reflective to the light of a first range of wavelengths in the infrared spectrum than to a second range of wavelengths in the visible spectrum.

There are seveal additional aspects which build upon the first.