Is your roof covered?

As I was writing about solar energy advances in Israel another interesting company caught my attention, this time in California. It is called Solyndra and it offers a very interesting rooftop solution for solar energy generation. According to the company website there are approximately 11 billion square meters of commercial rooftop surface available worldwide. 

 

Based on the same core photovotaic technology Solyndra panels are built from cylindrical modules that are exposed to the sun at almost 360 degrees. The system is lightweight and allows modules to be spaced apart within the panels so that wind can blow through them. This is a differentiator because many traditional solar panels need to be reinforced by additional hardware to make sure the wind does not blow them away

 

This design also offers another advantage - the sheer amount of surface that can be covered. In most traditional installations the panels are lifted and spaced apart to enable more effective energy generation. In Solyndra’s case this need is totally avoided because the most effective installation is horizontal and there is no need to leave space between the panels. As a result the installation is simpler, quicker and cheaper.

 

On January 8th President Obama announced the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States. This is good news for solar industry in the US as it solidifies the intentions of this administration to build the domestic manufacturing capacity and create jobs. 

Comments: 0; Published: January 14, 2010; Permalink

Tags: green supply chain,green technologies,new technologies