NREL Helps PV Industry Make Panels Last

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=1893

[font face=Serif][font size=5]NREL Helps PV Industry Make Panels Last[/font]

June 6, 2012

[font size=3]During 30 years on a rooftop, a solar panel gets bombarded by UV rays, soaked by rain, buffeted by wind, pounded by hail.

How well it stands up to that beating is a crucial factor in setting the warranties of solar modules — and in convincing the public that solar energy can be counted on like the sun rising in the east.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) plays a crucial role in improving the reliability of the photovoltaic (PV) panels that are being installed on rooftops in record numbers.

NREL helps set standards for reliability and serves as a neutral third party in tests of manufacturers' new solders, edge seals, and glues. At its Golden, Colorado, campus, NREL subjects solar panels to heat, humidity, and mechanical stress to simulate conditions in Denver, Phoenix, the Philippines, and elsewhere.

In March, leading scientists and engineers in the industry gathered at NREL for the PV Module Reliability Workshop. The workshop encouraged a frank discussion of reliability problems that can plague solar power companies.

What standards are needed for the glue in the edges that seal a panel's top and bottom? How does weather affect cracking? What can be done to prevent one glass panel from creeping away from the other?

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[amerikat]

1. I worked with a few scientists that came from NREL.

When I worked in PV we made amorphous silicon panels. They were glass substrate laminated
to a cover glass sealed together with a polyvinyl butrate (PVB). It was an interesting process. I was in charge
of building the laminating machine. We built the largest thin film panel in the world at the time(1998).
That machine was used to manufacture the PV panels for 4 Times Square in NY.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Quite cool

It must be a source of pride for you.