Cylindrical Solar Cells boost efficiency and electrical output.
"With a cylinder, we are collecting light from all angles, even collecting diffuse light," says CEO Chris Gronet, who founded the solar cylinder company in 2005 based on an idea he had late one night while pondering less expensive ways to install photovoltaic panels. Because the arrays do not have to be angled or anchored into the roof, he adds, "we have half the installation cost and can install in one third the time."
As it stands, Solyndra's CIGS solar cells convert as much as 14 percent of the sunlight that hits them to electricity and, all told, Gronet expects that a Solyndra system will deliver twice as many kilowatt-hours of electricity from a given rooftop.
The cylindrical design also allows Solyndra to lay its arrays flat and to space them so that the wind can flow through them, rather than lift them up like it can with angled arrays. This means that the solar cylinders can be installed without affixing them onto the roof—and still withstand up to 130 mile-per-hour (209 kilometer-per-hour) winds.
