got to tour a solar manufacturing plant in San Antonio Texas

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Misson Solar, newly located in San Antonio, Texas, recently held a tour for its employees and their families. Being a friend of a family (and just happened to be along) was also allowed to take the tour. It was very straightforward.

The glass squares which will make the solar cells are 6 x 6 inches, and are the only components not manufactured on site. They go through a sterile cleansing, then an etching process to prepare them to be coated with the chemicals that ultimately will create the electric charge. In between each process the cells are washed before they are allowed to advance to the next stage. Phosphorus and boron are used to create the positive and negative sides of these squares to create the current which will flow between them. Following this, the circuit contacts between the two elements are added to the cell and then individually tested for conduction and voltage. If they pass this part of the test they are lined up for assembly into a complete panel where a robotIc soldering station completes the contacts in between individual cells. The sides of the completed panel are sealed against the weather and then the whole thing is conformal coated, and baked in an oven to seal against the environment.

At this point, the junction box is added and then the panel is connected to an automated testing station which does the "flash " of the Sun and measures the final output. It will rate the panels anywhere from 18 to 22 percent efficiency.From there it gets added to the metal bracing which will support the panel in the installation. it goes through one final mechanical and electrical inspection before it gets the certification labels added to it, and then is grouped by its efficiency rating and made ready for shipping.

For the next couple of years, Mission Solar will only be producing panels for commercial projects, but they are going to install a second manufacturing line, and perhaps then the general public may have opportunities to purchase. It is a very clean and modernized manufacturing plant, and seemed to be a pleasant place to work overall.