[RE-wrenches] Regarding Solyndra

Ryan LeBlanc ryan at naturalenergyworks.com
Fri Jul 24 22:12:00 PDT 2009


For those curious about Solyndra,

This is my first post so I'm not sure about how to format the email for
everyone's ease.  Please let me know.

The Livermore Cinema Solyndra Project (the one seen on the banner at
Intersolar) was installed by the company that employs me, as well as maybe
one or two other projects by now.  Since then I've become reasonably
familiar with the product, toured the factory, viewed early production
values, and have worked on several proposal designs with this product.   

Provided the CIGS technology holds up over the years regarding degradation,
moisture and atmosphere compromise, etc., and I still wonder, it was a snap
to install and shows great promise as a technology, for some applications.
First, I appreciate that Solyndra mentions they are focusing on a specifc
application, "cool" and otherwise reflective roofs, but this also has been a
limitation.  Also, they mention that they can fit more DC on a busy roof,
this is true sometimes.  It has to be very busy, with clusters of open spots
big enough for 4 or 5 of them for it to have a significant impact on the
system size in comparison.  I've done several layouts on the same building
with both Solyndra and Poly modules at 20 degrees.  Sometimes it was less,
sometimes it was about even, and sometimes it was a bit more, about equal
with respect to frequency.  We have had sales staff looking for buildings
that would suit this product for some time now, they come around on
occaision.  

It is very easy to layout in design, and they do give you a compete set of
CAD blocks to work with.  Because they are tubes, they have a shorter, wider
power curve, data backs this up,  so you can oversize the arrays on a
inverter as they mention.  They say 30-40% over inverter rating and that
seems about right to me.  High voltage module, poses a little extra trouble
on the wiring side of things, but shorter strings have some benefits as
well, so once you get used to the idea it's fine.

They have a very easy to use production tool on their website, accuracy is
unverified as of yet, but it's a pleasure to use.  Good thing too, because
none of the other programs can model this unique technology.  CSI requires
entering it as an alternate technology, so you use their production tool and
manually enter in the estimate.  Extra step, but not the end of the world.

As for the installation, the most complicated part was probably stringing,
they have two positives and to negatives, and keeping them straight is
slightly more challenging for a crew than traditional modules.  Also they
operate at high voltages, so short strings that can/should be paralleled in
the field to reduce Home-run wiring, Combiners, OCPD/Fuses, etc.  This is a
slight diversion from the norm, but a good introduction to upcoming
thin-film tactics (Sharp 121).  Conceptually, once the guys in the field
understand that each tube is a module, and each "module" is a panel, and
that positives are positives regardless what shape connector is attached
(Male/Female), it goes in quite fast and easy.  It is light and has very few
parts, just like they represent.  Little connectors, with the grounding
symbol bond the array together, but I can't recall hearing much about
grounding from the guys, good or bad, so I'm not sure if they had to run
conductors throughout.  No news is good news sometimes, maybe they didn't.
It is light, no ballast is almost too good to be true. So far permitting
agencies are going for it.  Solyndra does have well prepared engineering
documents, which is not always the case with other non-penetrating
solutions.   
 
With regard to production, because of the flat array pitch, and tubes, I
believe they really need a lot of reflantance (albedo) up to the underside
of the panel, to show comparable kWhrs/sqft.  You must know the specific
roof type to model production with any reasonable accuracy.  They have a
database of a lot of roofing make, model and types with albedo levels
posted.  Otherwise, they also make an albedometer you can purchase for I
believe around $3000-ish, to measure the specific albedo of the proposed
roof.  Roofs get dirty and dim over the years, I could see production
dropping off midlife or sooner, but we'll have to wait and see about that.

For us, cost per watt is a bit higher than todays extremely bargain poly
modules, but I'm not sure how the numbers would work out for you.  It seems
they don't have much pricing room to work with at this point, which is the
trouble for all thin-films at this point I think.  PPA's don't seem to dig
it yet, it complicates their model and are probably waiting to see how they
perform.

It's an interesting idea, tubes.  I do believe they stay cooler, and I
believe they are not a sail.  The factory is nice, but they all are to me.
They do have good size robots that transport stuff, following painted lines
which was cool.  The machines in the line look legitimate, but I'm no expert
on production lines.

Overall it seems to be a well executed product.  They have a very helpful
and knowledgable staff to work with.  Before you know anyone over there,
when you call, you may get an answering service that knows nothing.  Once
you get the right number they are responsive.  Overall, it's been a solid
relationship.  We are not selling out of the stuff, but it has been nice to
have as option.

Ryan J LeBlanc
Natural Energy Works
ryan at naturalenergyworks.com
707.591.1950





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