The only PV material SIT have ever used, of course, was the Unisolar flexible PV material (also called PV laminates) ( see here: http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/4212004.pdf ) which SIT then glued to membranes, and yes SIT has used membranes for TPO/FPO and PVC roofs (
http://www.solarintegrated.com/fileadmin/dateiablage/media/Solar_Integrated_Fact_Sheet.pdf ).

You may may find the recent disclosure about SIT’s product problems interesting. The 8K/A filed on November 5th ( http://investor.shareholder.com/ovonics/secfiling.cfm?filingID=950123-09-57767 ) reveals: “Management changed its estimates of the warranty liability [an increase of about $30 million] due to product performance issues discovered which were not fully covered under prior estimates. That information resulted in a significant increase in the warranty expense recorded in the six months ended June 30, 2009. Previously, the warranty estimate was based on historical warranty claims and warranty work performed. The current warranty estimate is based on an evaluation of certain aspects of the Company’s products and systems which indicated that increased failure rates may occur over the typical twenty-year warranty period arising from specialized adhesives used in the SIT manufacturing process and from certain product handling and installation methods. The Company continues to assess its estimate of warranty obligations each reporting period to determine if its accrual is appropriate.”

And, yes, of course, the PV material underperforming on NARA’s roof is Unisolar’s (SIT simply glued that PV material to the membrane)

I agree/know that Suffolk never got the IRS job. But at the time when I wrote this article (mid June of ’09), they were on of the front runners to get it, and I was contacted by two different gentlemen from Suffolk in regards to a PVC roof / Solar PV installation, because they were interested in IB’s SolarWise PV system (which uses Unisolar laminates). Later I heard that some other GC got the job. I don’t know who it was and do not particularly care, because I was not interested in a job of such massive scale. We are just not capable to handle such a big job.

As for SIT using or not using Unisolar pv laminates, I may be incorrect, so please enlighten me. It seems thought, that SIT’s PV panels look awfully similar in terms of physical and electrical characteristics to those made by Unisolar. Once again it is my understanding that SIT purchased Unisolar panels and laminated them to a single ply roofing membrane (i was not aware that they also used TPO roofs).

If I’m wrong, who made the PV modules for SIT?

Also please share the issues that Unisolar had with their panels.

Disagree with me all you want but, as you said, you DON’T have all of the information. Solar Integrated Technologies (SIT) laminated their PV solar arrays to either PVC or TPO sheets which were then hot welded at the seams on the job not laminated as Unisolar is. The NARA building IS an SIT system just Google it. Unisolar purchased SIT a few months ago.
You are right that Unisolar has it’s own issues and that is fact.

By the way, Suffolk is not the GC for the Andover IRS Service Center either so, they have no business looking for alternative systems as the GC has already been awarded to another firm.

I have to disagree with you however. Solar Integrated (SI) was using Unisolar Thin-film Solar PV modules, that were adhered to a pvc roofing membrane. SI had an “exclusive” contract with that PVC maker to market and sell the PVC roof with Unisolar PV modules. It is my understanding that later this PVC manufacturer began to market their own Roof-integrated PV systems with the same Unisolar panels, while still working with SI. (just to be fair, do not quote me on this info – I did not do any extensive research – it is just the way I know things from different sources).

In any case both Solar Integrated and this PVC manufacturer had certain problems with the whole system, and it is no longer “welcomed” in Massachusetts as well as most other places.

Of course, Open Energy (aka Applied Solar) had their own nice fire in Simi recently, no wonder they are filing for Ch 11.

Oh, and by the way, are Unisolar laminates IEC 61730 compliant?

http://ecdfan.blogspot.com/2009/06/certification-of-safety.html