Solar cell makers can now go to Dow Corning Corp.’s Solar Solutions Application Center in Freeland, Mich., for help with materials used in making solar panels.
The 27,000-ft2 facility includes a laboratory, pilot equipment, and test gear. Dow’s offerings for solar include high-performance silicone products such as encapsulants, adhesives, coatings, potting agents and sealants, as well as next-generation solargrade silicon. The company earlier introduced Dow Corning PV 1101 Solar Grade Silicon, the industry’s first commercially available feedstock derived from metallurgical silicon using large-scale manufacturing processes. It can be blended with polysilicon to help ease silicon shortages.
