Sticky Solar announces alternative to silver in solar panels
Alternative to silver in solar panels Sticky solar power offers an alternative to silver in solar panels. With a new…
Sticky solar power offers an alternative to silver in solar panels. With a new type of solar stringer machine we lower the amount of silver used in photovoltaic panels by 60%. This June the 19 we announced in pv-magazine that our “Tape solution” is available for industrial-scale use.
A standard solar panel contains 0.643 ounces (20 grams) of silver. With the increased demand for solar energy we have seen a rise in the price of silver. Leading to less profit for manufacturers. If the price continues to increase manufacturers might need to increase the cost for solar panels.
New more effective solar panels such as Topcon and Heterojunctions are making waves. While more effective they need more silver in production than standard PERC. This further demands an alternative to silver in solar panels. According to bloomberg news Heterojunction requires more than twice that of a PERC.
The report also states that while demand for silver rose by almost 20% the supply stayed the same.
Our own “The tape solution” uses adhesive tape with copper wire attached. The machine places solar cells upon the tape eliminating the need for single cell soldering. Instead the soldering occurs during the lamination, eliminating the need for silver.
Standard soldering reaches a temperature of around 240 degrees celsius at a rapid rate. This increases the risk of cracking or bowing of the solar cell. Hindering the production of newer solar cells such as back contact, heterojunction and perovskite.
With The tape solution soldering occurs during lamination at around 150 degrees celsius. The temperature increases over a 10 minute span.
The Tape Solution™ revolutionizes solar photovoltaic module manufacturing by enabling substantially higher throughput at lower cost, more ambitious levels of sustainability and minimized factory footprint.
