Shading losses of solar-cell metal grids

The effective shading of metal-plated solar-cell fingers after cell encapsulation is substantially less than would be expected from simple geometric calculations. The reason for this is that much of the light reflected from the fingers is either directed downwards toward the silicon or is totally internally reflected at the air/glass interface. Experimental data is presented to support calculations of this effect. Calculations of the impact of this effect on solar-cell performance are also included.