Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 11:23:43 AM - by Nate Lew

It's a solar system in a box, and like big-box offerings, you can take it home, perform minor assembly, plug it in and enjoy hours of clean, green solar energy.

The small, lightweight, technologically superior solar panels from Armageddon Energy offer a framing system that goes directly from the store to your roof and – with a few simple installation tools and techniques – plugs into your electrical system, hopefully with the help of an electrical professional. Though, if you’ve enough expertise, you can probably do it yourself.

The units come in “clovers”, consisting of a triangular frame, a micro-inverter and three hexagonal silicone solar panels. A single unit delivers 400 watts of power, and the threefold configuration is rated at one kilowatt, according to Armageddon CEO Mark Goldman, who says the uniquely pre-assembled design also lowers costs; to $10 per watt in Beta design, and ultimately to $6 per watt when the company achieves commercial-scale manufacture.

The systems currently sell for $6,000, but the target price, post-commercial production, is less, and the weight – at about 30 pounds per unit – is considerably less than current conventional solar panels, which – when combined with framing – can weigh up to 50 pounds apiece. The systems are light because they the solar panels are encased in a Teflon coating rather than glass. This thin-film technology is the next wave in solar technology, but drawbacks (namely less heat resistance) exist, so Armageddon’s initial warranty will be for 10 years, until testing confirms the DuPont coating’s durability. Goldman is convinced the coating will hold up for 20 years.

Time to install? Goldman says “a few minutes”, but inexperienced do-it-yourselfers should plan on at least a half-hour, including one person to hold the ladder.

These plug-n-play solar installations are called solar appliances, and unlike solar panels tend to be self-contained units with all the appurtenances needed to convert sunlight into energy. They are becoming increasingly popular as solar energy’s profile takes a larger share of the energy market, and their ability to defray installation costs – which typically amount to 30- to 50-percent of a system’s cost – make them additionally appealing to homeowners in difficult economic times.

The configuration, hexagonal rather than round or square, is reportedly more efficient in terms of size and solar energy production, and also allows for the use of triangular racks, which tend to be more stable in rooftop-mounting situations where wind/weight is a factor. It should come as no surprise that one of the company’s investors is Buckminster Fuller, an engineer and mathematician whose futuristic advocacy of dome building integrates the hexagon as the most stable shape in nature based on graphite’s formation.

The company is in the early development stages, having only recently completed its first prototype. Beta testing comes next. At about $6,000 the units aren’t cheap, but their enduring appeal will surely be in their ease of installation and connectivity.