How Solar Panels Are Made

How are solar panels manufactured?

Solar panels are manufactured in 5 steps: (1) Silicon purification — sand is heated to 1,700°C to extract pure silicon. (2) Crystal growing — silicon is melted and grown into a single crystal ingot (monocrystalline). (3) Wafer slicing — the ingot is sliced into thin wafers (150-180 microns). (4) Cell processing — wafers are doped, textured, and metallised to create photovoltaic cells. (5) Module assembly — 60-66 cells are laminated between glass and EVA, framed in aluminium, and tested. The process takes approximately 3 days from silicon to finished panel.