Page 40 - Solar Power in Building Design The Engineer's Complete Design Resource
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10 SOLAR POWER SYSTEM PHYSICS
Figure 1.5 (a) Monocrystalline solar panel manufactur-
ing process. (b) Solar power module frame assembly.
Because of the worldwide silicon shortage, the driving cost of solar cells has
become a limiting factor for lowering the manufacturing cost. At present, silicon
represents more than 50 percent of the manufactured solar panel. To reduce silicon
costs, at present the industrial trend is to minimize the wafer thickness from 300 to
180 microns.
It should be noted that the process of ingot slicing results in 30 percent wasted
material. To minimize this material waste General Electric is currently developing
