This post is talking about the current and new material for the frame of solar panels. It refers to aluminum solar frames and non-metallic frames. Now let us have a general understanding of common material solar frames.
The common frame for solar panels
The common material for solar panels is aluminium alloy profiles. Why aluminum alloy material is good for solar panels. Check this related post to know more. Is aluminum good for solar panels?
After checking this post, you can find out why the aluminum alloy frame can be widely used in solar panels.
Non-metallic frame for solar modules.
Why more and more solar companies would love to find new materials for solar panels? Pls find the background as below during these years.
According to the data released by the National Energy Administration, in the first quarter of this year, the new grid-connected capacity of photovoltaic power generation nationwide was 13.21GW, an increase of nearly 1.5 times over the same period last year, and the goal of “1.2 billion kilowatts of wind power and photovoltaic power generation in 2030” is getting closer and closer. It has also taken a steady step on the way to achieve the strategic goal of “carbon peaking in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060”.
In addition to increasing the installed capacity of photovoltaics, photovoltaic people have been working hard to reduce energy consumption in the production process, and to find low-carbon materials to reduce carbon emissions from the source and shorten the energy recovery cycle. In 2016, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association released a set of data that the energy consumption of the entire photovoltaic power generation system in the production and construction links can be completely recovered in about 1.3 years. By 2021, according to the estimates of relevant experts, this time will be less than one year.
Take the component frame as an example, usually, the component frame is made of aluminum alloy. Aluminum alloy profiles can make complex cross-sections, which are convenient for installing corner codes. At the same time, aluminum alloy has low density, light weight and corrosion resistance. But as we all know, electrolytic aluminum is a very typical high-energy-consuming industry. According to industry experts, it takes about 13,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce one ton of electrolytic aluminum. This means that in 2020, the total electricity consumption of the electrolytic aluminum industry will account for about 6.67% of the electricity consumption of the whole society in my country in 2020. Although photovoltaics only account for a small part of the application of aluminum materials, reducing carbon emissions in the production process and making photovoltaic power generation more “green” are issues that every photovoltaic person must think about.
Now some companies have innovatively used organic non-metallic materials to make module frames, further reducing production energy consumption and module weight. They stated that their innovative polyurethane composite photovoltaic module frame has made an important breakthrough.
According to the relevant person in charge, polyurethane materials can be seen everywhere in our daily life and have been widely used in all walks of life, such as refrigerators, mattresses, and fan blades. The application of polyurethane pultruded composite materials to the frame of photovoltaic modules has excellent mechanical properties, excellent corrosion resistance, and can reduce production costs. “The thermal expansion coefficient of polyurethane pultrusion composites is comparable to that of glass, which can avoid the deformation of components at different temperatures and reduce the possibility of component damage.”
From the perspective of practical application, how to reduce the grounding resistance to less than 4 ohms is a big problem after the construction of the rooftop distributed photovoltaic project is completed. In this regard, the above-mentioned person in charge said that polyurethane pultruded composite materials are insulators, which makes it possible for distributed projects to be free from grounding, thereby further reducing system construction costs and bringing higher benefits to owners.
We do believe the non-metallic frame of photovoltaic modules will come soon. But do you think it will replace with the common aluminum alloy solar frames?
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