Solyndra debuts rooftop solar tubes amid talk of $1.2bn in orders

Thin-film solar panel manufacturer Solyndra has this week emerged from stealth mode with the unveiling of a new thin-film solar panel for the commercial rooftop market that it says can be installed at half the cost of conventional solar.

Instead of conventional crystalline solar cells, the company is using panels made from a series of tubes covered with copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar material. The tubes absorb sunlight from all directions, meaning that the panels do not need to be tilted, but can be laid flat on a roof.

"We eliminated the mounting hardware as a separate item," said vice president of marketing Kelly Truman. "Normally you have to lay it out specifically and figure out where the roof joints are."

He added that installation times are about a third that of conventional solar panels, and that the cost savings could be up to 50 per cent.

The panels are also more moisture resistant than conventional rooftop panels, he said, while the spaces between the tubing ensure the technology is better at withstanding high winds.

Moreover, they can be fitted with no spacing in between, because unlike tilted panels, they do not cast a shadow that adjacent panels need to avoid. Truman explained that the extra coverage helps boost the rooftop efficiency of the panels.

"You can get a great result from a lab measurement, but it does not mean that you will get a lot of energy out of your rooftop," said Truman, who believes the efficiency of the CIGS cells stands at about 12 to 14 per cent. "With conventional solar, you're leaving a lot of the roof not covered by panels. We think we can get up to two times the coverage."

The company, which claims to already have $1.2bn in orders and recently secured $600m in venture funding, currently has a 110MW manufacturing plant in Fremont that it claims is not yet at full capacity. It also plans to open a second 420MW facility nearby later this year.