Kinect Solar’s thin-film expertise has helped developers take advantage of the many benefits of thin-film without getting slowed down by the learning curve that comes with using a different technology. We provide engineering support and logistics expertise alongside our extensive inventory to make it work smoothly.
Kurt Blum is one of the experts leading Kinect Solar to its position as one of the largest stocking distributors of First Solar in the US market. We’re sharing his insider knowledge with you!
Meet Kurt, Senior Project Manager
Kurt Blum knows what works for large-scale solar projects. He has more than 15 years of experience in the solar industry, including managing, designing, and consulting on hundreds of utility-scale and C&I projects. He’s worked in most states across the US including Hawai’i as well as Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
What is different about thin-film solar panels?
Kurt: The semiconductor part of the panel is very different from traditional crystal silicon modules. With crystalline, large silicon ingots are sliced into wafers, then those wafers are doped, or processed, placed on glass panels and wired to convert light into power.
With thin film, the semiconductor is Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) instead of silicon, and it’s “sprayed” onto the glass surface through a process called vapor deposition. Cells are then laser-etched into the surface.
This construction gives thin-film solar panels several advantages over crystalline solar panels. For one, it prevents shading issues. Thin-film solar modules have a linear shading response, meaning when part of a panel is shaded, only the percentage in the shade loses production. For crystalline modules, there is a stepped shading response. So if any part of a section is in the shade, that whole section loses production.
CdTe also has a different spectral response, which means it’s better at absorbing diffused light. So thin-film panels have the ability to perform better in cloudy or humid environments than their crystalline counterparts. CdTe also has a lower temperature coefficient, which means thin-film panels lose less production as the temperature rises. That makes it ideal for hot-climate solar farms.
Is microcracking a problem for thin-film solar panels?
Kurt: This is maybe one of the very biggest advantages of thin film. It is not subject to microcracking. In fact, thin-film solar panels are typically warrantied against microcracking. It’s a widespread issue with crystalline panels that can be very expensive for solar projects, but it’s not an issue for thin-film panels.
A couple of other big advantages are its lower degradation rate. Because it has a warranty degradation rate of 0.3% annually for utility-scale, PID mitigated projects, compared to 0.4 or 0.5% in crystalline modules, you get more kilowatt hours per kilowatt installed over the life of the module.
And then even the production process is pretty cool because it’s much less environmentally intense than crystalline. Crystalline silicon ingots take several days to grow and then are often transported to another location to be processed, so you get the additional carbon costs of transportation. The thin-film modules made in the United States are fully processed in a single factory, and the whole process takes just 4 or 5 hours, start-to-finish. Those panels are also about 90% recyclable with robust, global recycling programs already established.
Thin-film modules have the fastest energy payback period. This means the amount of time it takes before a solar module has produced more energy than it took to manufacture it, is much shorter compared to other solar panels on the market.
Which solar projects are a good match for thin-film modules?
Historically these have been used in large scale commercial solar farms—the kind you see when you drive across the desert. However, over the last few years they’ve been employed more and more for smaller utility-scale and commercial-scale projects as well. They do really well on commercial rooftops and carports, for example.
Because we see these panels as such a great mechanism for the solar industry, we’re actively working on solutions to get them deployed to even more projects of a smaller commercial scale. Developers we’re working with are very happy about being able to monetize the domestic content Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for their projects.
How does Kinect Solar help solar businesses with thin film panels?
Transitioning from crystalline solar panels to thin-film modules can have a steep learning curve. It’s a different design and installation process. We walk our customers through that whole process to ensure the project’s success and also prevent the kinds of expensive mistakes that can happen when you’re learning, or when you’re trying something for the first time.
Kinect Solar also has special access to a variety of thin-film products, many of which are 100% domestically manufactured, and many of which we keep stocked so they’re available to ship immediately. Our sales team can help customers take full advantage of the tax benefits of using domestic content and avoid the risks of tariffs and penalties that seem to be increasing by the day for imported solar equipment. Even the foreign-made thin film modules we stock are free from tariff risks. So, our inventory is a great resource for companies interested in thin film, whether that’s because of all the advantages we talked about earlier or because they’re looking to mitigate their import risks.
And what I’m involved with is the design step. We work with customers’ engineering teams through helioscope and PVsyst analyses, and we identify the inverters, racking, and wire harnesses best suited to their projects. So in addition to the tax benefits of using thin film, they’re getting faster and cheaper installation through this process.
Another significant benefit we offer customers is our extensive handling experience with thin-film solar panels. We have more than five years of experience handling those logistics for major utility-scale developers as well as thin-film manufacturer First Solar directly. Again, this is a different process with different requirements than traditional crystalline solar panels, so it is important to have someone who understands that handling your equipment.
Thanks, Kurt, for breaking all of that down for us! Do you have thin-film questions for our team of experts? Let us know on LinkedIn or schedule an equipment consultation.