Building a Premium High-Efficiency Cell
Posted on Jul 13, 2012 |
This column appeared in Today's Energy Solutions magazine in July 2012. Access the original here.
By Mike Grunow
Key technologies brought in-house help drive the economy of scale in solar panel manufacturing.
Benchmarks, for judging how good a PV system is, typically come down to low cost, ease-of-assembly, and high efficiency. All are important, with no compromises for the sake of another. The increasing emphasis on commercial rooftop PV installations does nothing to change this; in fact, all three benchmarks become even more important.
One of the many advantages of commercial rooftop PV is that it generates power where needed, not in some distant ground-based location. However, most buildings use more power than their own roof area can generate. To narrow the gap, a higher-efficiency panel is best – as long as it is cost-effective and does not complicate installation or maintenance.
Read the rest of the piece here.
