PV panel hazing

[rwoofer]

I have a PV panel that is about 4 years old and it is hazing over, which is undoubtedly affecting it's efficiency. I thought I would try a cutting compound to remove the haze, but after considerable effort it has barely been removed.

Does anyone else experience this hazing, not what it is and how to clear it? It is on a semi-flexible solar panel. In the attached pic you can see where I tried to polish and cut the haze as a dark patch centre left.

 

[Graham376]

It's no doubt the plastic laminate covering the cells which is UV degrading. The plastic covering our 25w coach roof mounted LVM is getting a bit wrinkled after about 15 years.

 

[rwoofer]

That is what I thought, hence some cutting compound. However it is so much more work than fibreglass, I wonder if it is something else. The hazing is very rough, whereas the unaffected areas are very smooth.

 

[LeeME3]

I think part of the issue is these semi-flexible panels are just not as robust as the solid ones - well, except theoretically you can walk on semi-flex but not on the rigid ones, I guess I mean robust as in longevity! My experience is mainly on camper vans but I've had 2 of the Biard 100W semi-flexibles and both failed after a little over a year, one of them also exhibited this hazing and resisted all efforts to clear it, I even tried the hazed headlight toothpase trick but it made no difference. I now have rigid panels on the camper van and the boat and so far they seem much more efficient and better longevity (and cheaper to buy in the first place).