Seeing potential opportunities worth more than 4 GW for low-load roofs in the commercial rooftop solar space in Europe alone, Singapore headquartered Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd. has launched a new solar panel technology calling it Maxeon Air that produces frameless, thin, lightweight and conformable solar panels on commercial basis.
A single panel is thinner than a pencil with 4mm thickness, it claimed while adding that the panels deploy its proprietary back contact (IBC) cell technology with 20.9% efficiency.
Calling it 'disruptive' and 'revolutionary', Maxeon Solar said these panels will initially target roofs that are not engineered to support the weight of conventional solar systems. Unlike traditional modules, its panels are conformable, ultra-light, robust and fire-certified, it emphasized.
These can be adhered directly to the roof without any need for racking or mounting systems or even ballasts thanks to the factory integrated adhesive layer, which the company argues brings down installation time and minimizes business disruption during installation.
Saying the Maxeon Air Panels are optimally sized to standard rooftop membrane width, the manufacturer said the installed weight of a single panel is around 6 kg/m², less than half of conventional systems since it does not use any metal frame or heavy glass, explained Maxeon.
The manufacturing spin-off of America's SunPower Corporation, Maxeon Solar believes this technology can enable 'breakthrough products' for residential rooftops, floating PV systems, and e-mobility.
"For close to 50 years, the solar power industry has almost exclusively utilized glass superstrate panel construction. As solar panels have increased in size, and the cost of solar cells has been dramatically reduced, the cost of transporting, installing and mounting large glass panels has become a relatively larger portion of total system cost. With Maxeon Air technology, we can now develop products that reduce these costs while opening up completely new market opportunities such as low-load commercial rooftops," explained Maxeon Solar CEO Jeff Waters.
The company said Maxeon Air panels will be featured in selected projects in Europe in H2/2021, and general product availability will start from Q1/2022. Details about Maxeon Air solar panels can be found on the company's website.
Recently, Maxeon Solar secured a contract as a primary premium solar panel technology provider for distributed generation segment in Austria with Clean Capital Energy Group (see Maxeon Solar Lands Module Supply Agreement In Austria). The company is also working on expanding its production capacity under 2 phases of 1.8 GW each in Mexico and Malaysia (see Maxeon Solar Shares Plans To Expand Further Into US Market).
Currently, it manufactures solar panels branded as SunPower Maxeon Panels and SunPower Performance Panels. It is the first product from the company branded as Maxeon Air.
TaiyangNews just concluded a 2-day virtual conference on Very High-Power Solar Modules with leading PV manufacturers and inverter suppliers spoke at length about latest technological developments in the space and the future trends expected, including applications for residential rooftops and utility-scale solar (see Day 1 and Day 2 coverage).