I've recently come into enough money to be independent of working for a living daily. It still means I have goals
and one of those goals is to purchase at value green energy products. Our economy offers many opportunities
but we also balance that against the natural progression of new products. That is perceived values may not be as
attractive when compared to the natural progression of technology.

I'm a materials scientist in chemistry, electronics, optics. But I lack some experience in mechanical assembly.

Let's begin with the basics. Are there any 'gotchas' with regard to the electrical characteristics of solar cell assemblies?

Most semiconductors work well if they work at all. Once in place they age less as time goes on. Solarization of the
glass and maybe the silicon could be the only problem I forsee. What else can go wrong that would cause financial
problems for a 5 KW system?

What comes next when I install a system:
I firmly believe that we lack initiative in using focussing mirrors to increase light energy to cells. I realize that 10x
the energy would destroy the cells. But 2x or 3x , or more with cooling, should be OK. Do you agree?

Why don't we see more auxillary focussing mirrors causing light to be put upon solar cells? The newest technologies
are doing it.

Solar balloon is key for doing this.

New Solar Balloon Creates 400 Times More Energy Than The Average ...
http://www.causecast.org/news_items/7304-new-solar-balloon-creates-400 -times-more-energy-than-the-average-solar-cell

http://inventorspot.com/articles/21_million_cool_earths_solar_bal_1105 6

Why not standard roof mounted collectors and use the waste heat from cooling for home water heating?

Ok so the Q I had was about checking a lot of panels for quality. I can do it myself but need to know the things
that can go wrong.

I will share my time with you if you have any interest in solar, battery power, or optics. My degrees are in electronics,
optics, chemistry and lately sociology.

Andre