Silfab’s high-profile, high-reliability, North American-made solar installations

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Silfab Solar, a solar manufacturer operating out of Bellingham, Washington U.S. and Toronto, Canada, grabbed a “top performer” rating under the just-released PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) reliability report card — one of the few North American companies on the list, and Silfab’s second year in a row.

PVEL is a test lab for the downstream solar market.

Here are the solar vendors that make it onto the test labs “top performer” list.

The reliability rating applies to Silfab’s conventional 60-cell and 72-cell modules as well as its back-contact, metal wrap-through module. Silfab earned good reviews in four testing categories: thermal cycling, potential-induced degradation, dynamic mechanical load, and damp heat.

Highly automated factories

The ITEK module factory bought by Silfab last year in Bellingham, Washington has an annual capacity of 200 MW. Silfab makes the same mono-PERC modules there as at its factory in Toronto, Ontario — with an emphasis on 60-cell modules.

The company has a total capacity of 800 MW with three lines in in Toronto and two lines in the U.S. That’s modest compared to JA Solar’s 16 GW capacity in China but substantial for silicon PV module capacity in North America.

Geoff Atkins, business development at Silfab, told pv magazine, “We believe we’re one of the most automated solar manufacturers in North America.”

Silfab’s line of metal wrap-through back-contact modules comes as the result of a strategic alliance with DSM, maker of an “integrated” electroconductive backsheet.

Atkins spoke of an international supply chain and operational discipline that minimizes inventory and makes sure every module has an associated purchase order.

“We rarely get caught up in the solar coaster,” said Atkins.

Notable “high-profile commercial projects”

Silfab’s “main business is U.S. residential installers,” said Atkins, but he noted, “We touch on high-profile commercial projects.”

Here are a few of those high-profile projects.

U.S. state department: Twenty Silfab solar panels on the roof of the State Department’s Harry S. Truman building in Washington, DC. — installed by Inman Solar.

photo: Silfab

NFL Stadiums: Atkins noted that Silfab’s modules are deployed by Powerhome at “most of the NFL stadiums” including the North Carolina Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium (pictured below) and the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, and Pittsburgh Steelers.

photo: Powerhome

Walmart: After Walmart parted ways with Tesla, the global retailer started to deploy Silfab modules (as well as SolarEdge inverters and DCE racking) through C2 Energy Capital on five projects, totaling over 1.9 megawatts across Walmart rooftops in New Jersey.

photo: C2

Atkins said that these PV modules are “Buy American” approved and “specifically designed for and dedicated to the North American market.”

He notes that many companies have tried their hand at manufacturing in North America but, unlike Silfab, most have experienced what Atkins called, “varying levels of success.”

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