Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical solar panels of thin-film solar cells based in Fremont, California. Unfortunately, the company ceased all business activity and filed bankruptcy on September 1, 2011. The solar cell panels design is unique and has higher performance than the typical solar cells. However, the company failed economically to survive. In this article we will explain the basic concepts of the solar panel design and analyze the reasons of failure.
Technology
Their cylindrical modules claim to capture sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface capable of absorbing energy from direct, indirect, and reflected light. The solar panels were made of cylindrical tubes (or tubular solar panels). The company rolled its thin films into a cylindrical shape and placed 40 of them in each 1-meter-by-2-meter panel. Although initial reports of the flat PV modules has 12%-14% efficiency, the cylindrical modules have about 8,5% power efficiency.
Technology
The panels have three advantages over the conventional solar panels:
Reasons of failure
Two are the major reasons of failure:
Summary
Solyndra was a Silicon Valley company that was producings cylindrical solar photovoltaic (PV) modules. The advantages of this technology is better performance using reflecting light and better resistance to the weather elements (snow, rain) and dirt The company went bankrupt due to complex manufacturing process, high prices and hard competition.
- First, the panels do not have to move to track the Sun. The panels are always presenting some of their face directly perpendicular to the Sun any time in contrast with the flat panels.
- Increased resistance to snow. The snow will pass through the cylinders and
the reflected light will also increase the power production. There is no need of cleaning the panels from the snow and as side effect more power is produced. - Panels attract less dirt and airborne particles, and rain that lands on the modules clean the cylinders
Reasons of failure
Two are the major reasons of failure:
- Manufacturing cost: Conventional solar modules made in China are much cheaper. Cylindrical modules are more expensive due to extra process of adding extra glass layers.
- Competition: Oversupply and compression of prices of solar panels.
Summary
Solyndra was a Silicon Valley company that was producings cylindrical solar photovoltaic (PV) modules. The advantages of this technology is better performance using reflecting light and better resistance to the weather elements (snow, rain) and dirt The company went bankrupt due to complex manufacturing process, high prices and hard competition.
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