High purity monosilane gas is a key material used for making the anti-reflective coating of solar cells and as a feedstock for photovoltaics. The solar industry depends heavily on a consistent supply of high-purity monosilane gas, which is as a key element in PV cell production.

Unfortunately there are only a few major manufacturers that produce monosilane. Most of them use it for their own production ends instead of making it available to others. As such, monosilane is not always available.
At Dow Corning’s production facility, a potential 4,000 metric tons of monosilane gas can be produced each year. This means there can be a reliable supply for clients in the solar industry to depend on.

“We have always said that we aim to be the material house for the solar industry,” said Peeters. “By going online with a high-capacity plant dedicated to serving customers, Dow Corning is offering customers a very competitive choice to help boost their productivity.”

Dow Corning’s track record of high quality in silicon-based products and consistent purity gives clients confidence in their monosilane products.

(This news report was adapted from: Business Wire, published 17 Aug 2011)

Continue Reading:

1. Konarka Technologies To Build Organic Solar Cells for Building Integrated PV
2. GESOLAR: Module Warranty Increased To 10 years
3. JinkoSolar Establish Its Local Presence In Zug, Switzerland

Building Solar Panels

If you’re interested in building solar panels, you must have retained a library of information in your head or even started your own DIY solar power project.

However I can almost guarantee you haven’t learned every trick in the book. In fact, if you read the rest of this page, you’ll discover three secrets that almost nobody knows about making solar panels…yet…

These tips are essential to help you convert more power from the sun and lower the cost of your project:

Secret #1: Use Anti-Reflective Glass

A good portion of sunlight that hits the surface of your solar panel’s glass covering gets reflected away. They never reach the solar (photovoltaic) cells. In order to generate more electricity, we need to have more sunlight penetrate the glass.

A simple method to do this is to use anti-reflective glass or use a layer of anti-reflective coating on the surface of the glass. This is proven to increase the power output of your solar panel by as much as 50%!

Secret #2: Angle Your Solar Panel

The greatest enemies of your solar power generator are leaves and debris that stays on the glass surface. This is obvious since they will prevent sunlight from reaching the solar cells. Therefore the simplest way to minimize such blockages is to angle your solar panel a little during installation. This will help them slide off the panel easily. Rainwater or snow can also move easily to the side of the panel when it hits the glass surface.

Secret #3: Join Broken Cells Together

If you are on a tight budget, you can drive down the cost of your project by joining broken solar cells together. With a little practice, you’ll get good at it. And you’ll soon wonder why aren’t more people doing this. (Perhaps it takes time…or because you need simple plans and a little effort… and… we’re lazy by nature) In fact, many suppliers will be very happy to sell you broken solar cells at unbelievable prices.

If you were to take these three tips and implement them, I assure you that your DIY solar panel will be working harder while the cost of building it becomes cheaper.

There are of course more tips than these to be learned about building DIY solar panels. So I encourage you to keep reading and learning from experienced folks who design and build for themselves solar panels that they use everyday. Some of these valuable resources can be found in magazines and on the Internet.

Continue Reading:

1. How To Build Solar Panel (Part 3 of 3)
2. Do-It-Yourself Solar Panels – Electricity Conversion From Sunlight
3. How To Find Used Solar Panels