Solyndra, a 10-year-old, California-based thin film company, has helped in the research and development of thin film solar panels and solar collectors to meet the demand for cheaper solar technologies. The company has recently announced it will develop an alternate use for its solar collector proficiency as shade for greenhouses.
The company’s solar collectors are designed with an array of thin film solar-cell covered glass tubes, thus allowing sufficient light to pass through. The plants in the greenhouses are therefore supplied with adequate light they require. Moreover, the solar collectors are a source of clean energy for the research centers and help to offset carbon gas emissions and cut reliance on the electric grid, as the required electricity is generated by the solar panel itself. However, the conventional solar panels block all of the light falling on it.
Solyndra‘s solar collector technology is currently being tested in Italy and at the University of California, Davis, where researchers are working to check the performance of their solar panel system in agricultural research centers. The company also received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy for their project.
“We are pioneering this new agricultural solar solution in Italy, where extensive shaded agriculture operations combined with strong insolation and a favourable feed-in tariff are driving strong interest and demand,”
said Clemens Jargon, the president of Solyndra in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
These thin film solar companies face a pretty hard competition in relation to prices, from Europeans and Chinese suppliers which use the customary solar panel material.
Via: cnet
