Photovoltaic cells need to have a long operative lifetime, in order to be competitive against the so-called polluting sources. In particular, thin-film technologies such as CIGS suffer from degradation due to moisture ingress into the panel. An edge sealing tape applied in addition to a standard lamination foil used in the encapsulation process can strongly reduce the moisture permeation and degradation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.