Solar PV Workshop

Here at Falls Brook Centre we are interested in not only disseminating knowledge but giving people the chance to realize their own potential and even get their hands a little dirty, so to speak.  For something like the 20th year, FBC has invited Dr. Richard Komp from the Solar Maine Association to teach interested people that solar photo-voltaic modules can be easily built by just about anyone and used to produce electricity for a home, a cabin or a workshop. 

Dr. Komp was fresh off the plane from Peru and drove straight up from Maine to begin sharing his vast store of knowledge about everything from the chemical structure of the silicone crystalline solar cells, to how to spread solder like peanut butter.

The two day workshop began with an in-depth look at some of the applications of solar energy whether it is passive solar air heating, hot water or the generation of electricity.  Dr. Komp provided examples of his work from Jonesport, Maine where he lives, to Haiti, where he worked in what has been called the worst slum in the western hemisphere or Pakistan, where he worked with ex-Taliban gun machinists. 

By lunchtime on the first day, the workshop had progressed to cutting solar cells and soldering the cells into series.  Once we had 36 cells soldered together in three strings we began the process of laying out vinyl backing, then the strings of cells, and then the most time intensive process of mixing the silicone and pouring it on the would-be panel and installing the glass. 

The silicone had to set all night and some of the next day, so we went back to soldering another series of solar cells.  We continued with a second series that would make another 60 watt solar panel, and then a smaller series that would make a solar charger for a cellular phone!  These two panels were to be encapsulated (the siliconepoured on) over the next couple days during Dr. Richard Komp’s Fall Fair workshops.

Once the silicone had set we began constructing the frame.  With some silicone caulking, a handful of rivets and some old aluminum sliding window track we fashioned a very smart looking frame, and in the space of half an hour we had our newly finished solar panel hooked up to the batteries in the outdoor kitchen to charge.