FREELAND - If you think solar power peaked in the 1970s, think again.

In five years, energy from the sun will be competitive with traditional sources like coal and nuclear, predicts Eric Peeters, executive director of Dow Corning Solar Solutions. You'll be able to power your home with more efficient, less costly and smaller solar panels, for instance.

The innovations will be hatched at a $3 million, 27,000-square-foot Solar Solutions Application Center that Dow Corning Corp. opened Friday at an existing company building in Freeland.

Right now, solar panels aren't as cost competitive with traditional power sources, or efficient as they could be.

But Dow Corning says it has the answer - a process called encapsulation - that will use silicone to make panels that can harness more of the sun's energy than existing technologies.

''The future of solar is brilliant,'' Peeters said. ''It's going to become a real part of our lives.''

In one hour, the sun puts out enough energy to power the entire planet for one year, Peeters said. Harnessing that power is the key.

Most solar panels today are made with EVA, or ethylene vinyl acetate, said Chad Steiner, a program manager at the Freeland facility.

Dow Corning, based in Bay County's Williams Township, plans to use silicone to make photovoltaic, or solar, panels.

The method is meant to protect, seal and prevent corrosion of the panels.

Silicone also is more transparent than EVA, allowing more visible and ultraviolet light to reach the cell and be captured and harnessed, Steiner said.

That increases efficiency by ''1-3 relative percentage points,'' he said, allowing panels to generate more watts and more money for manufacturers.

The Solar Solutions Application Center aims to show manufacturers how to improve their existing solar technologies through a collaborative, hands-on process.

''This is where all the fun stuff is going to happen,'' said Don Sheets, a vice president at Dow Corning.