Template:FAOL

I do not see any thing additive in pt. article--Oldboltonian 18:03, 24 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I had previously added some business information on solar module manufacturers, as well as a link to a global directory of solar module manufacturers, solar module manufacturing equipment suppliers, and solar module installation companies. The information was taken down by someone who hadn't actually reviewed the validity of the information but was deleting based on the fact that I posted up several links to ENF.

On the suggestion of one of person that removed the information, I am submitting suggested comments/links here in the hope that other editors will evaluate the relevance and resubmit it to the main page:

There are hundreds of photovoltaic panel (module) brands in the world, and numbers are increasing fast due to the low entry barriers. The bare minimum a company needs to become a manufacturers is a laminating machine and some soldering irons (for a manual production line). This has lead to a particularly strong explosion in new panel manufacturers in China, although the majority of Chinese companies do not have the certification most western companies require (in April 2007, only 19 Chinese panel manufacturers held IEC, TUV or UL certification).

A 2007 global survey of photovoltaic installation companies ^[1] identified the best panel manufacturers to be:

No.1 - SunPower Corporation (USA)
No.2 - Schott Solar (Germany)
No.3 - SolarWorld (Germany)

The company with the best quality panels was identified as Sanyo (Japan) and the best value for money panels was from Suntech Power (China).

I was surprised to see no information in this article about the environmental impact of manufacturing and destroying solar panels. Does anyone have any information they could add? There is mention of different certifications, I'll look into those as a start. Basho (talk) 16:23, 18 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here's an example of using the waste from computer chip manufacturing in the manufacturing of solar panels: http://www.p2.org/p2week/2007Winners.cfm ( search for IBM-Burlingon , and yes, I work for IBM, but certainly don't speak for them ) Basho (talk) 13:55, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• Directory of Photovoltaic Panel Manufacturers
• Directory of Photovoltaic Panel Installation Companies
• Directory of Photovoltaic Panel Production Equipment Manufacturers

Kit Temple 13:56, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• Propose merge. I think this could fit as a section in Photovoltaics, as could Photovoltaic array. We should make Solar panel into a disambiguation page. Itsmejudith (talk) 17:25, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• Just throwing out an idea here but what if both 'photovoltaic module' and 'photovoltaic array' were covered inside of 'photovoltaic system'. I'd have to read all these pages but this seems logical. I agree that solar panel needs a disambiguation page. Mrshaba (talk) 19:34, 14 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
• There is some logic to your suggestion but I am not sure that "photovoltaic system" is sufficiently used that potential readers would think to look for information under that title.Itsmejudith (talk) 10:55, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
• BTW the Portuguese FA page seems to cover everything on PV. They do not seem to have another page on PV, just the one referenced and one on solar cell. Itsmejudith (talk) 10:57, 17 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]