Products & Solutions

Revolutionizing Solar Panel Durability with MetZilla Technologies

By 2025, billions of solar panels will be deployed across the U.S. to drive the transition to a decarbonized electricity sector. However, solar panels must endure decades of exposure to harsh environmental conditions, leading to inevitable degradation. One of the most costly issues—solar cell cracking—is projected to result in over $5 billion in losses over the next five years.

Osazda Energy’s MetZilla Technologies are designed to significantly enhance solar panel durability, reduce energy losses from cell cracking, and maximize energy output throughout a panel’s lifespan.

The Customer Problem

Solar cells—the core power-generating components of solar panels—are thin, brittle, and highly susceptible to cracking. These cracks can occur due to multiple factors, including manufacturing processes, transportation, installation, and prolonged outdoor exposure. Cell cracking is one of the top three causes of field failures in solar modules, leading to diminished energy production, reduced revenue for solar farm owners, and lower reliability for energy consumers.

Our Solution

Osazda Energy offers an advanced carbon-nanotube-based composite metal contact technology that enhances solar cell resilience and extends operational longevity. Unlike traditional metal contacts, our MetZilla technology is engineered to be flexible and resistant to breakage, ensuring continuous conductivity even when cracks form. By bridging electrical connections across cell cracks, our solution:

Preserves and enhances power output, mitigating energy losses.
Improves long-term module reliability, increasing the return on investment for solar farm operators.
Adds value to solar manufacturers by distinguishing their products in an increasingly competitive market.

With Osazda Energy’s MetZilla Technologies, solar energy providers can achieve greater efficiency, enhanced durability, and long-term economic benefits, ensuring a more reliable and sustainable energy future.

THE OSAZDA SOLUTION

Osazda Energy is providing materials engineering solutions to improve solar cell and solar module reliability with our special metal matrix composites that have been proven to electrically bridge stress-induced cracks that self-heal to regain electrical continuity. By incorporating nanomaterials into solar cell metallization, Oszada Energy has been able to increase the crack-tolerant performance of solar cells.

Crystalline solar cells for all applications (terrestrial, space, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.) are becoming thinner and thinner in order to save cost, reduce weight and in some cases improve performance. In addition, solar modules (assemblies of cells) are moving to thinner and lower weight designs. These changes mean that solar cells will be subjected to higher stresses, due loads from wind, snow, handling, temperature extremes, etc., and the cells, being thinner, are more likely to crack. The performance of cracked cells degrades when the crack in the semiconductor propagates through the metallization on the cell. When this happens, the cell can suffer from partial or complete electrical loss as seen in Figure A.

A study of terrestrial solar panel degradation over time shows that cell cracking and delamination are the main degradation mechanisms (see blue shaded area in figure below from IEA PVPS Review of Failures of Photovoltaic Modules 2014). Reducing the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) from solar power is of critical importance to improving the adoption of solar energy. The LCOE can be reduced by various methods, including lowering solar panel costs and improving efficiency, but one of the most important methods is to increase the panel life from the current 25 years to 40 or even 50 years. To enable this increase in panel life, addressing degradation from cell cracking is extremely important.

FIGURE A. ELECTROLUMINESCENT IMAGE OF A SILICON SOLAR CELL WITH ELECTRICALLY BRIDGED CRACKS (A), PARTIALLY BRIDGED CRACKS (B) AND FULLY ISOLATING CRACKS (C). CRACKS THAT START AS TYPE “A” CAN PROGRESS TO TYPE “B” AND “C” CRACKS AS A RESULT OF ADDITIONAL STRESS. FROM KONTAGES, SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS 2011.

//49d.828.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Solar-panel-performance-degradation-mechanisms.png

Learn more about how MetZilla Paste Technology and MetZilla Plate Technology are changing the solar energy industry and making cell crack degradation a thing of the past. Then see how our technology can help you save money, time and the consequences of cell cracks and micro-cracks on long-term cell degradation – and let MetZilla protect you from the expense, and inconvenience, of unnecessary cell replacement.

Osazda Energy has developed a unique technology and innovative product to address cell crack performance degradation and give cell cracks the ability to self-heal.

505.218.7228

info@osazda.com

1451 Innovation Parkway SE, Suite 600 Albuquerque, NM 87123

Quick Links

Video Player