Solar panels tested at ASU lab

Corinne Purtill
The Arizona Republic

The Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory at the Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus is a rough place for solar panels.

Machines fire simulated hail at the panels to make sure they won't crack when exposed to the elements on a rooftop. Cement bricks are stacked upon them. Technicians batter them with iron-filled bags to ensure that a panel won't shatter and cause injury if a child were to run into them.

If a panel survives the tests put to it, the lab awards the manufacturer with the certification they need to put them on the market.

And lately, business is booming.

Demand for solar panels has increased dramatically worldwide. Faced with rising energy costs and growing concerns about global warming, countries are turning to renewable energy sources such as solar to supply their power needs.

Most of the panels tested at the lab in Mesa are sold in Germany. The German government has an aggressive solar promotion program that allows residents to sell unused electricity generated on their home solar systems back to the utilities for a profit.

Mani Tamizh-Mani, the lab's director, says he believes Arizona should be doing as much to promote solar as Germany, which gets 40 percent less sunshine than Arizona.

"In this state, solar is the best" renewable energy option, Tamizh-Mani said. "It is highly predictable, especially in Arizona. And it is plenty."

The ASU lab is one of three photovoltaic testing labs in the world and the only one in the United States. The other two are in Germany and Italy.

The lab tests solar panels - also called photovoltaics because the sun creates an electric charge when it hits the panel - for safety, electrical and mechanical performance.

In 2006, the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, ruled that Arizona utilities must get 15 percent of their power from renewable energy resources by 2025.

At least 4.5 percent of the state's energy must come from individual projects like rooftop solar panels.

Solar's high price tag has kept the technology from really taking off in Arizona. The largest home solar systems can cost residents as much as $30,000, even after rebates from the utility and state and federal tax credits.

But solar advocates say the panels will become more attractive as costs drop and traditional energy sources become scarcer.

"When we have the first few blackouts, people will be interested in solar," said Paul Symanski, marketing manager at the lab.