The solar panel system had a price tag of $250,000, but the final cost to the company was only $40,000, following tax credits and incentives from the state and federal governments. Company officials said the roof should pay for itself in 6 to 7 years, through energy cost savings.••

In the U.S. alone, approximately 30 billion square feet of commercial rooftop surface is available for PV systems and could be utilized to create in excess of 150 gigawatts of electricity. Globally, this number could be two to three times higher. Tapping even a small fraction of this potential would make a significant impact on the world's energy needs.

Solyndra designs, manufactures and sells solar photovoltaic (PV) systems comprised of panels and mounting hardware for large, low-slope commercial rooftops. The Solyndra system is designed to optimize PV performance on commercial rooftops by converting more of the sunlight that strikes the total rooftop area into electricity.

Solyndra's panels employ cylindrical modules which capture sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface capable of converting direct, diffuse and reflected sunlight into electricity. Solyndra's panels perform optimally when mounted horizontally and packed closely together, thereby covering significantly more of the typically available roof area and producing more electricity per rooftop on an annual basis than a conventional panel installation. The result is significantly more solar electricity per rooftop per year.

The Solyndra system is lightweight and the panels allow wind to blow through them. These factors enable the installation of PV on a broader range of rooftops without anchoring or ballast, which are inherently problematic. The horizontal mounting and unique "air-flow" properties of Solyndra's solar panel design substantially simplify the installation process for Solyndra's PV systems. The ease of installation and simpler mounting hardware of the Solyndra system enables its customers to realize significant savings on installation costs.

Using proprietary cylindrical CIGS modules and thin-film technology, Solyndra systems are designed to provide the lowest installation cost per system and the highest annual solar electrical energy output for typical low slope commercial rooftops.

•• Copyright 2009 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Conventional flat PV panels must be mounted at an angle and spaced apart for optimum energy production. The sunlight striking the spaces between the panels is not collected and therefore is wasted. As shown in the illustrations below, Solyndra's panels perform optimally when mounted horizontally and packed closely together, thereby covering significantly more of the available roof area and producing more electricity per rooftop on an annual basis than a conventional panel installation.

The Solyndra system's ability to cover more roof and capture more light results in more annual solar electricity generation. Solyndra panels employ cylindrical modules which capture sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface capable of converting direct, diffuse and reflected sunlight into electricity. This self-tracking design allows Solyndra's PV systems to capture more sunlight than traditional flat-surfaced solar panels, which require costly tilted mounting devices to improve the capture of direct light, offer poor collection of diffuse light and fail to collect reflected light from rooftops or other installation surfaces.

For typical conventional PV installations, a solar panel is approximately half the cost of a complete installation; the other half includes additional expenses such as labor mounts, cables and inverters. Solyndra provides a packaged system comprised of panels and mounting hardware required to assemble standard-sized arrays.

To meet rooftop wind loading requirements, conventional flat solar panels must be anchored to commercial roofs with either ballast or rooftop penetrations, which are inherently problematic. Together with the need for tilting, the resulting complex mounting systems require significant and costly investment in labor, materials and engineering.

Solyndra's system enables its customers to realize significant savings on installation costs. Because wind blows through Solyndra's panels and horizontal mounting is optimum, simple, non-penetrating mounting hardware is used in the Solyndra system. No roof penetrations, attachments or ballast are needed. Panels and mounts are quickly attached together, enabling installations to be done in one third of the time of conventional PV installations. After the installation is complete, these same attributes enable Solyndra systems to be easily moved for relocation or roof servicing.

Wind naturally flows through the gaps between the modules in Solyndra's panel, greatly simplifying mounting requirements. Even in areas with high winds, there is no need for roof-penetrating mounts or ballast to hold Solyndra panels in place. Solyndra's panels have been tested and are certified for use in winds of up to 208km/h (130mph). Further, having a distributed rooftop load of 16kg/m2 (3.3lbs/ft2), Solyndra's self-ballasting systems can be used on buildings that would otherwise require structural reinforcement to harvest solar power. Additionally, Solyndra panels impart negligible resultant upward or downward wind loads on a roof structure.

Natural airflow between Solyndra's cylindrical modules results in lower operating temperatures than conventional flat-plate modules. Lower operating temperatures provide higher energy output and improved reliability.

The thin film photovoltaic material employed by Solyndra’s proprietary modules is copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS). Traditionally, CIGS cells have been known to degrade because of their vulnerability to moisture. Solyndra's design employs truly hermetic, glass-metal seals at the ends of each module — eliminating moisture as an issue and leading to a more reliable, robust and efficient PV system. In addition to a 25-year power warranty, Solyndra's products have received UL 1703 certification for use in North America and IEC 61730, IEC 61646 for international use.