TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The metal film is an aluminum foil. The solar cell(s) is multi-crystalline solar cells, thin film solar cells, compound semiconductor solar cells, or amorphous silicon solar cells.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Component: The polymeric film comprises a polymeric composition including poly(ethylene terephthalate), polycarbonate, polypropylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, cyclic polyolefins, norbornene polymers, polystyrene, syndiotactic polystyrene, styrene-acrylate copolymers, acrylonitrile-styrene copolymers, poly(ethylene naphthalate), polyethersulfone, polysulfone, nylons, poly(urethanes), acrylics, cellulose acetates, cellulose triacetates, cellophane, vinyl chloride polymers, polyvinylidene chloride, vinylidene chloride copolymers, fluoropolymers, polyvinyl fluoride, polyvinylidene fluoride, PTFE, or ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymers. The preformed bi-layer sheet is laminated to the light-receiving side of the solar cell layer and serves as a front-sheet encapsulant layer (22), and the second sub-layer of the preformed bi-layer sheet comprises the polymeric film. The solar cell laminate further comprises a back-sheet encapsulant layer that is laminated to the back side of the solar cell layer and comprises a polymeric composition including poly(vinyl butyral), ionomers, ethylene vinyl acetate, acoustic poly(vinyl acetal), acoustic poly(vinyl butyral), thermoplastic polyurethane, polyvinylchloride, metallocene-catalyzed linear low density polyethylenes, polyolefin block elastomers, ethylene acrylate ester copolymers, acid copolymers, silicone elastomers or epoxy resins. The backsheet encapsulant layer (24) is formed of a second preformed bi-layer sheet. The preformed bi-layer sheet is laminated to the back side of the solar cell layer and serves as a back-sheet encapsulant layer. The solar cell laminate further comprises a front-sheet encapsulant layer that is laminated to the light-receiving side of the solar cell layer and comprises a polymeric composition including poly(vinyl butyral), ionomers, ethylene vinyl acetate, acoustic poly(vinyl acetal), acoustic poly(vinyl butyral), thermoplastic polyurethane, polyvinylchloride, metallocene-catalyzed linear low density polyethylenes, polyolefin block elastomers, ethylene acrylate ester copolymers, acid copolymers, silicone elastomers or epoxy resins. The second sub-layer of the preformed bi-layer sheet has side hard coated. A back-sheet (25) is laminated to the back-sheet encapsulant layer opposite from the solar cell layer. The solar cell laminate further comprises an incident layer (21) and a second front-sheet encapsulant layer, where the incident layer is bonded to the preformed bilayer sheet with the second front-sheet encapsulant layer in between. EXAMPLE - A solar laminate structure was prepared with laminate layers including Starphire (RTM: low-iron glass) layer, B51 V (RTM: poly(vinyl butyral)) layer, amorphous silicon photovoltaic device layer, and SentryGlas Spallshield 3010 (RTM: multi-layer composite of polyvinyl butyral base layer), that were stacked (laid up) to form the pre-laminate structure. For the laminate containing a film layer as the incident or back-sheet layer, a cover glass sheet was placed over the film layer. The pre-laminate structure was then placed within a vacuum bag, the vacuum bag was sealed and a vacuum was applied to remove the air from the vacuum bag. The bag was placed into an oven and while maintaining the application of the vacuum to the vacuum bag, the vacuum bag was heated at 135 degrees C for 30 minutes. The vacuum bag was then removed from the oven and allowed to cool to room temperature (25 plus minus 5 degrees C). The laminate was then removed from the vacuum bag after the vacuum was discontinued.