Moldable photovoltaic solar cell module

A photovoltaic module, comprising:

• a flex-circuit that comprises a flexible polymeric substrate and an electrically conductive printed wiring pattern defined on the flexible polymeric substrate;
• a plurality of solder pads defined on the flexible polymeric substrate and electrically continuous with portions of the printed wiring pattern;
• a plurality of photovoltaic cells, each said cell having two back-surface electrical contacts;
• and
• at least one thermoformable polymeric film substantially parallel to the flexible polymeric substrate and joined thereto, said film having a temperature range for thermoforming;
• wherein:
• each back-surface electrical contact is attached to the flexible polymeric substrate by a respective solder pad of the plurality of solder pads;
• all lateral dimensions of each said cell are at most one centimeter;
• the plurality of solder pads each comprise a solder composition having a remelt temperature that lies above at least a portion of the temperature range for thermoforming the polymeric film;
• the photovoltaic module is conformed in a flat, sheet-like conformation comprising gore panels, wherein the photovoltaic module is capable of being reshaped from the flat, sheet-like conformation into a three-dimensional, curved shape;
• each of the gore panels is a projecting finger of material that extends from a central region of the photovoltaic module, wherein each of the gore panels comprises an edge region;
• in the flat, sheet-like conformation, the edge region of each of the gore panels is separated from the edge regions of adjacent gore panels such that there is a gap between adjacent gore panels;
• and
• in the three-dimensional, curved shape, the edge region of each of the gore panels directly contacts the edge regions of the adjacent gore panels so as to define a curved, three-dimensional surface without buckling or wrinkling of the flexible polymeric substrate.