April 11, 2008
<p>Dear Friends,
   <br>   Here are a couple of photos from our cottage PV assembly workshop
in Villa Corona, Mexico.  The first one shows the participants putting
the first two finished 60 watt PV modules onto the roof of the off-grid
workshop building (taller) to power the building so we can make more
modules.
<br>      The second shows a 30 watt module we just finished.  This module
was made with thin white paper behind the cut PV cells and a transparent
vinyl (polyvinylchloride to be exact) backing.  As you can see, it is
quite translucent and would work well as a skylight.  The next experiment
would be to spread the cells a bit more to let in about twice as much
light, while still having the same electrical output.  The ratio can be
easily controlled so that you could get 10% (which is what I
approximately calculate this one does) up to  as much as 40% without
making the module look too funny.
  <br>   This morning we won't have a class session, instead, Ruben Sr (who
is helping me) and I will give a seminar at the local grade school,
showing a couple of the finished PV modules and one of the small solar
battery chargers we made at the start of the workshop.  I'm really
enjoying this workshop and the trip to Mexico, and looking forward to
finally getting back to work in Maine.
  <br>  Sincerely,
      <br>   Rich

<br clear=all><img src=mex1.jpg width=40%>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src=mex2.jpg width=50%>
<br>Richard Komp PhD. President
<br>Maine Solar Energy Association
<br>17 Rockwell Rd SE, Jonesport ME 04649
<br> <a mailto:sunwatt@juno.com>sunwatt@juno.com</a>
<br><a href=http://www.mainesolar.org>www.mainesolar.org</a> 
<br><a href=http://www.skyheat.org>www.skyheat.org</a>