I don't know if you guys in the US have seen them much, but here there a PV panels that are just a sandwich of glass-PV collector-glass, about 1/4" thick total, without the aluminum frame around the module that is so common. I've been keeping an eye here in the EU on used panel prices, and now it seems like the previous generation panels are getting dumped on the market, especially these frame-less ones, which you can buy them by the pallet at 8.50Eur / piece ~ $97 / 1kWp .
Usually
solar panels are being mounted on an aluminum frame system. I've seen one system "Schletter Indach" that provides an apparently waterproof system for mounting them, but the mounting rails and such are harder to find used. I think what happens is that people in Germany were early adopters of PV panels as well as setting up PV farms there (big subsidies), and now that efficiency of panels has about doubled in the last decade, they upgrade using the same mounting systems, but just replacing the panels and sometimes the inverters.
I wonder if anyone has thought through using a mostly wooden construction to support these frame-less panels and using them as roofing material. e.g. what would be the cheapest way to incorporate them into a new structure for that purpose? I need to make a
shelter for goats and eventually cows, so I am thinking how to use these
solar panels as the roof, instead of buying sheet metal. Used solar panels = 6eur/m2, cheapest corrugated sheet metal is 4.30eur/m2, so for just a bit more cost, I could have electricity up in the field-- run
fence charger, some
lights, pump, music for animals, or
solar bitcoin mining.