Grand entrance to the Solon factory located in Tuscon, Arizona! We love the fact that Solon has its own PV recycling program!
March 26, 2010
I visited the Solon factory today. They have a very clean and well run facility. While many manufacturing tasks are robotic, the very important wafer soldering was done by hand. What impressed me the most was the efficiency and the quality control. Most of the employees are there to check for quality. Pictures are attached. I was not allowed to take pictures inside the factory. One pic is of their parking structure. They used monocrystalline panels to spell out SOLON. It is about 60kW and has connections for electric car charging.
Another pic is of their test facility located at the local coal burning power plant. They have some cool R&D projects with concentrators and different cooling methods. They have identical testing sites in Italy and Germany to test their panels in different environments and latitudes.
Among their many projects worldwide, Solon builds megawatt solar fields for power companies for which they get paid based on performance. If their panels are not efficient or degrade faster over time, they get paid less. They are super picky with quality control. If there is the smallest defect in the glass or wafer, the panel is rejected. They test the wafers, the strings, the glass, and the panels. They calibrate the machines daily.
It was interesting to see the glass without the wafers. It was very thick, 4mm (thicker that double strenth glass), and tempered. Most manufactures use 3mm glass. The thicker the glass the longer the panels last. Thick glass is important for several reasons. If the panels flex in the wind, over time the super thin and fragile wafers will get hairline cracks that negatively affect their preformance. Thicker glass also helps with impacts and snow loads.
John Harley, Production Manager
National Solar Inc.
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