Flexible Solar Panels: Enhancing Versatility and variety of Use to Renewable Energy Sector

By Nathan Thompson

The popularity attending the launch of flexible solar panels into the market a few years ago turns out to have been entirely merited if market research data is anything to go by. There is actual evidence to suggest that manufacturers can barely keep up with rising demand. The details spelt out below seek to establish why this novel form of powering homes is gaining that much popularity.

Instead of being founded on the crystalline silicon cells that make the conventional modules so hard and rigid in form and applications, these are manufactured from amorphous silicon cells. Silicon that is amorphous means the panels are not only much thinner and flexible but also far less bulkier and inconvenient.

For a long time, certain material limitations made it impossible to fashion out full fledged modules from amorphous silicon. This was not a discouragement for innovators in the industry and the efforts eventually gave results. For now it is possible to have standard sized modules that can literally be folded and used on the go.

The main challenge that innovators had to overcome was issues of efficiency. A workable solar panel needs to manage to convert from between 15-20% of the available energy from the sun to usable electric energy. For many years, flexible solar panel prototypes were unable to reach even 10% efficiency. As things are, this is no longer an issues and throughout 2011; some producers have reported a couple or records where prototypes have exceeded efficiencies of 17%.

There are some unbeatable factors that present these modules in very good light, some of them practical and others merely aesthetic. For most people, none of these is quite equal to the portability factors. Maybe more than anything else, the lightweight structure of these panels is what contributed to their fairy tale rise from infinitesimal powering options for phones and pocket calculators to the large size modules threatening to strike the traditional modules off their perch, literally.

It is not apparent to many homeowners, but traditional modules have a quite high reflective index. This is a factor that is decidedly a non-issue when it comes to the best designs of flexible solar models. Designers of traditional crystalline modules have done commendable work in making these panels less reflective but, by their very nature, crystalline cells have to reflect solar insolation.

Many people who take their time to dig below the surface are often surprised at the extent of applications possible for flexible solar panels in the industry. Outdoor campers can in fact use the panels to power their devices when far off from the mains supply. The panels are also proving a versatile solution to provide power options for scientists and researchers locked out in remote places.

For a long time, the applications possible to install solar panels were limited by the brittle and bulky nature of crystalline models. This was finally overcome by the invention and enhancement of portable and modules made from amorphous silicon cells. With rising efficiency levels, there is every reason to believe that flexible solar panels will prove to be the energy solution that finally weans the world of her addiction for fossil sourced fuels.

Solar Systems USA has had a lot of years of continued cooperation with the most well established solar providers in the world. We only stock the highest quality solar panels at the most affordable prices you can get on the web.. Unique version for reprint here: Flexible Solar Panels: Enhancing Versatility and variety of Use to Renewable Energy Sector.

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Topics: Environment | Comments Off

Tags: build solar panels, energy, Environment, flexible solar panels, Green Energy Solar, renewable energy, solar energy, solar panel cost, solar panel prices, solar panels price, solar power, solar power homes, solar system, solar thin film

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