Semi translucid PV roof

[Dan Lavoie]

About 2 years ago, I went to the Solarcity office in Kempville and noticed the semi transparent solar roof over the front entrance.

I'm currently considering building a covered deck on the south side of my house and I'm considering using semi transparent solar panels. I don't see the semi transparent solar panels available on the solarcity website nor have I seen them in Canada so where is a good place to buy those panels at a reasonable price?

I'm concerned by morning dew and rain dripping on people and things below so how are the seems between the panels sealed to prevent water ingress?

Thank you


https://www.solacity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/P1060437.jpg

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Dan,

You're talking about the awning over the entrance? Those are glass-on-glass panels that I was able to pick up at a very good price (a company made them to order for a US company, and they had a few left-overs). I installed them myself and simply caulked the seams with Proflex. By the way, that is holding up VERY well, the seams don't leak, though this is a simple awning and a little leak here or there is not a problem. Officially the company selling these panels had a whole system of rails and flashing that made it leak-proof. That would have been expensive, and I did not try to find that.

A similar thing can be done nowadays with LG's glass-on-glass (bi-facial) panels. They have some space between the cells, so some light comes through. We do sell those panels. While they are great for awnings and car-ports, there is no official racking system to make a leak-proof "roof" out of these. For that you're on your own.

-RoB-

[Bill von]

1) Silfab, Longi and Sunpreme all make bifacial panels. In general, framed panels are easier to use than unframed, and glass backsheets look better than plastic backsheets. They are not "semi transparent" - the cells are fairly opaque - but light leaks around the cells through the backsheet.

2) Most people use gap seals to seal between panels, which racking companies sell for just that purpose. They are not waterproof, however, and there will be some leakage at the panel mounting points.

[Rob Beckers]

By the way, here is a picture of our "solar awning":

https://www.greenpowertalk.org/picture.php?albumid=23&pictureid=257

I've yet to do something useful with the panels. While it's actually 2kW of solar PV, it's not connected to anything. The plan was/is to make a small off-grid demo system using the panels to charge the batteries. Not enough hours in the day...

-RoB-

[Bill von]

By the way, here is a picture of our "solar awning"
Are those Lumos panels? I have looked all over for them and have had no luck finding them.

[Rob Beckers]

Yes, they are Bill.
Lumos didn't actually make panels, and I happen to have a contact at the factory that made them. They were sitting on some extras, that ended up on top of my awning. That was a long time ago though and as far as I know they no longer have any.

-RoB-