TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRICAL POWER AND ENERGY - Preferred Solar Panel: The photovoltaic solar panel further comprises a layer of encapsulant in the space to provide the hermetical sealing for the energy conversion cells in the space, where encapsulant in the layer of encapsulant substantially fills the space between the two sheets, the energy conversion cells and the access matrix. The energy conversion cells are arranged in at least two groups. The first sheet or the second sheet comprises at least one material selected from glass, polyvinyl fluoride, polyester, ethylene vinyl acetate, Mylar, plastic, polyethylene, Kapton, polyimide, and polydinofluoride. The access matrix comprises a dielectric layer. The electrical conductors are located on the second sheet. It is also embedded within the dielectric layer. The electrical conductors are also bonded on at least one surface of the dielectric layer. The electrical conductors further comprise conductive tracks. The electrical conductors comprise at least one material selected from copper, aluminum, tin, tin coated copper, silver, steel, stainless steel, brass, or bronze. The access matrix further comprises bypass diodes, where the bypass diodes comprise super barrier rectifiers. The access matrix further comprises DC-to-DC converters. The photovoltaic solar panel comprises: (a) a first sheet and a second sheet adjacent to each other defining a space in between the two sheets, where the first sheet is transparent to solar radiation incident on the panel; (b) energy conversion cells arranged in groups in the space, where each group comprises an energy conversion cell, where the energy conversion cells are distributed across a substantially two-dimensional plane between and adjacent to the two sheets; and (c) an access matrix in the space, where the matrix comprises electrical conductors that are electrically connected to the groups and that extend out of the space; and (d) a power module, where the access matrix provides electrical access to the groups by the power module, where the space are hermetically sealed to enclose the energy conversion cells. The power module is hermetically sealed in a second space and permanently bonded to the photovoltaic solar panel, where the panel generates AC power. The power module is selected from bypass diode, a super barrier rectifier, a transformer, a DC-to-DC converter, a DC-to-AC inverter, a maximum peak power tracking circuitry. The DC-to-AC inverter comprises anti-islanding, over current, undercurrent, over voltage, or under voltage provisions. The power module houses at least one selected from a micro-controller, a microprocessor, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a frequency measurement device, diodes, or embedded algorithms.