Slashdot Mirror

Why so seriously skeptic?

Because Nanosolar has supposedly been shipping for three years and there are no visible installations.

Just because they have pictures of a factory interior doesn't mean they have a factory that delivers working product at the claimed cost. It's all too common to see some minor advance in materials science hyped into something becoming real cheap, real soon now. Most of the roll-to-roll processes for making solar cells don't work.

Not all of them, though. Uni-Solar Ovonic really does have a working roll to roll process for making flexible solar cells. You can order their products, they have a dealer network, and they have many installations. Nanosolar has none of that. Just hype.

Well, that's not what the article really states. It says "solar shingles can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingles" and doesn't give much more of a hint. As a guess I'd say that they might easily lay in place of a row of regular shingles or something like that, but the article says nothing leading one to believe that they can be nailed or easily wired.

It's also seemingly not very exciting news as companies such as Uni-Solar have been doing similar stuff for several years now, although I do not have the specs so I can't say much about the efficiency.

Companies have been manufacturing and selling thin-film, flexible printed to roll solar panels since at least a year ago.

For example, check http://www.uni-solar.com/ and http://www.firstsolar.com/

The things to keep in mind with this technology:
- Cheaper manufacturing, partly because the print to roll technology is much more scalable that the processes used to manufacture traditional solar cells, but also because of high silicon prices (traditional solar-cells use a silicon substract just like integrated circuits and thus compete for the same raw materials: before the recession silicon production was insufficient for both needs, so silicon prices where making traditional solar cells more expensive).
- Lower efficiency (around 9%) versus traditional solar cells (around 15%). Note that some recent advances are likely to increase the efficiency of traditional solar cells even further.
- Better at generating energy under low light conditions (e.g. in the shadow) than traditional solar cells.
- There are some questions about the long term viability of some thin-film solar cell technologies since they use rare elements: their price might go higher as production increases since that will also increase the demand for said rare raw materials.

There's no indication they've been discontinued on their website. They still have a PDF brochure for them and their distributors still talk about the shingles on their websites. However, there's not a lot of info out there though and virtually no promotion of them on their website.

FWIW.

-Matt

Links:
http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/AA53606-02Technical%20Report120706small.pdf

http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/Shingle%20Systems%20Sell%20Sheet.pdf

There's no indication they've been discontinued on their website. They still have a PDF brochure for them and their distributors still talk about the shingles on their websites. However, there's not a lot of info out there though and virtually no promotion of them on their website.

FWIW.

-Matt

Links:
http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/AA53606-02Technical%20Report120706small.pdf

http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/Shingle%20Systems%20Sell%20Sheet.pdf

http://www.uni-solar.com/cons_products_marine.html

I'm a unisolar fan when it comes to solar PV. They actually put thought into the frames as well as the solar part, both my flexible modules and the rigid framed ones I have are very tough built.

The FLX-11 models on the page are the ones I have that are flexible/portable for camping, etc.. They work as advertised. Not a tremendous amount of power, but enough for some smaller gadgets. You'll need to McGuyver your connections, they ship with normal ring connectors for screw posts on storage batts, but it's doable to make a 12 VDC cig lighter plug on the end, or whatever you need. Use geek skills and stuff there. NOTE: SOLAR PANELS ARE HOT IF THERE'S LIGHT OUT. As in watch careless handling, shorts, etc. The backing is quite tough, and it has grommets in the corner for handy attaching. Lightweight enough for travelling. If you notice, they make the 32 (numbers correspond to watts basically) model as well, correspondingly larger with more capacity. As to what I have run off a battery charged with one of them, old powerbook lappie, 12 VDC fluorescent light, small TV, multiband radio, FRS radio. It takes a LONG time to get a near flat large battery up to speed, and I never tried to use them for charging any drycells, so don't know there. There's no automatic shutoff, etc, with them, so you have to use your noodle.

Yes, actually, it probably can - get a major manufacturer's panels (Sharp, Shell, BP, Kyocera,) and that front glass will be tempered (viz. even stronger than windshield glass - it's a good chunk of the cost of modules anymore) I've seen people hit it with baseball bats, and some of the big mfgs. will even throw that into the warranty (check individual catalogs.)

You should also check the flexible shingles at Uni-Solar; they're nonbrittle and would probably take a hit even better.

Approximately $2.85 / watt in bulk; $7 - $10 /watt installed with power electronics, etc.

Yes, actually, they are tested with an ice launcher at NIST and other standards-testing labs; we're talking tempered architectural glass frames, generally speaking. I have seen people waste some time hitting PowerLight modules with an aluminum baseball bat to no discernible effect. The skylight-type panels mounted to the roof in a fairly nontrivial manner, using standard hardware. The shingles (From Uni-Solar) come off as often as normal shingles do;

Maintenance: wiping down the panels if they get pollen or dust covered, possibly replacing the inverter every ca. 10 years.

Replacement: you should have a licensed installer do it, and again, replacement costs as above, though overall system costs have been declining by about 5% compounding annually for quite a while, and that may be accelerating shortly.

See also uni-solar roofing & flexible cells