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BIPV

New Manufacturing Techniques Could Lower The Cost Of Building Integrated Solar

by Steve Hanley April 17, 2018

Rooftop solar is a great idea because it turns unproductive space into renewable energy. But tall buildings often have more wall space that could be used to make electricity than roof space. Hanging solar panels on walls is possible but often the resulting look is not what building owners have in mind. Working together, photovoltaic manufacturer SCHMID and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy have come up with new production techniques that permit the manufacture of a wide assortment of building integrated solar products that are attractive to the eye at a significantly lower cost. Known as the BIPV-Fab project, the research is funded in part by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

According to Renewable Energy Magazine, the partners have constructed two new assembly lines that can build specialized PV modules in a variety of shapes, styles, and colors. Glass of differing thickness can be accommodated, as well as various encapsulation materials and arrangements of solar cells. They can also be quickly reconfigured to produce different modules as required. Most importantly, the new lines reduce the cost of building integrated components by up to 35% — another incremental gain that moves the adoption of renewable energy forward another step.

“Our results showed that the combination of series production and freedom of design do not comprise each other,” says Stefan Sellner, project head at SCHMID. “We also demonstrated that we can reduce the costs by an average of 35% compared to conventional manufacturing processes of BIPV modules. A flexible, yet cost competitive, BIPV production that also accommodates the various needs of architects, module producers and system integrators at the same time is now possible.”

There are far more square feet of exterior walls on buildings in the world’s cities than there are square feet of rooftops. Reducing the cost of building integrated solar modules will allow architects to design attractive building facades that can help cities capture more electricity from the sun.

April 17, 2018 0 comment

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Swedish Solar Has An Option To A Conventional Rooftop Solar System

by Steve Hanley March 30, 2017

written by Steve Hanley

Rooftop solar is great, but it’s not ideal for every home or business. Sometimes the roof faces the wrong way or has the wrong slant. Sometimes the roof is just too small and the owner wants to add more solar panels to cover more electricity usage. Swedish Solar of Orlando, Florida, has a solution.

Inspired by the popular Bermuda shutters, founder Olof Tenghoff and his team of engineers have created custom-fabricated aluminum and stainless steel frames that hold up to 4 solar panels. The frames are easily mounted to the outside of any building. Instead of spending money on typical Bermuda shutters, homeowners can spend that cash (and a bit more) on shutters that generate electricity, saving money that would have gone to energy bills.

Swedish Solar

Whether Swedish Solar’s product genuinely ends up saving customers money is something each customer has to calculate (or try to calculate) for their own unique circumstances. Either way, though, this product offers an option for people who have maxed out their roof space or don’t want to put solar panels on their roof for some reason.

Swedish Solar’s awning-type installations can hold one to four of the company’s specialized PV panels, which come in two sizes. The installation hides all wiring and controls within the frame for a clean, uncluttered look (see above).

March 30, 2017 0 comment

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Pvilion’s Solar Fabrics Could Help Put Solar Everywhere

by Guest Author March 29, 2017

written by Guest Author

Originally published on Nexus Media.
By Owen Agnew

Solar power used to mean large, heavy panels mounted on a roof or spread across a field. But the sun falls on everyone — and everything — and as materials have gotten lighter, cheaper and more flexible, photovoltaic cells are showing up in the most unlikely of places. In bustling New York City, you can buy a sandwich at a solar-powered food cart, eat it while sitting at a solar-powered bus stop, all while charging your phone using your solar-powered jacket.

Solar power is becoming more distributed, generating power closer to where it’s needed. That can mean buildings with their own solar arrays, or, on a smaller scale, clothing that features solar panels.

The Solar Fabric Carport. Source: Pvilion

Brooklyn-based solar company Pvilion is leading the charge to put solar everywhere. Their projects range from building covers to small consumer items. “We’re looking at solar as a building material that can be used in a lot of different contexts,” says CEO Colin Touhey.

Touhey and his partners have collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger to make solar-powered jackets, and now they’re working on a line of bags with built-in solar panels. While coats can’t generate nearly as much power as larger arrays, every person with a smartphone is a potential customer.

“It’s really cool to plug in your phone and charge it with the sun,” says Touhey.

Researchers are developing woven solar fabrics that have photoactive dyes coating individual threads, so each fiber is a miniature solar panel. But for now, flexible solar panels must be laminated on top of fabrics.

Pvilion has also designed building facades using heavy-duty solar fabrics. You can see their handiwork in a planned expansion at the Artists for Humanity Epicenter in Boston. The building’s photovoltaic facade will generate power and provide shade, helping to keep the interior cool. This and other energy-smart technologies will make the Epicenter the largest commercial building on the East Coast to produce more power than it consumes, according to Pvilion.

Integrated solar designs like Pvilion’s awnings and canopies have another cost-saving advantage — they need fewer materials. “The fundamental idea of sustainability is doing more with less,” Touhey says. “If you can span a forty-foot distance with half the amount of weight and produce electricity, that’s a better deal than using a traditional framed structure that might use more materials.”

If you can install a facade that doubles as a solar array, then you can save on labor as well as material costs. It’s the same idea behind Elon Musk’s solar roof tiles, which look like high-end slate, ceramic or glass tiles, but function like photovoltaic panels. According to Musk, his solar roof will cost less than a conventional roof.

Like Tesla’s solar roof, Pvilion’s large-scale projects, like its parking lot canopies, feed surplus electricity into the power grid. Its small-scale projects are designed to work unplugged from the grid.

The firm is working on a new project for the the U.S. Army — a solar-powered robotic tent that can set itself up with the press of a button. Todd Dalland, another of Pvilion’s co-founders, has been designing tents for the Army for decades. “They’re one of the most interesting tent clients in the world,” Dalland says. “We’re often getting into situations where our buildings are so lightweight they can travel, and here’s one that almost walks!”

Pvilion is just one company dreaming up new applications for solar technology. Other firms are developing transparent photovoltaic cells that could be used in windows or smartphones. Researchers have even developed solar cells that are thinner than a human hair. As solar costs continue to drop, it’s not hard to imagine a future where almost everything under the sun is powered by the sun.

Reprinted with permission.

March 29, 2017 0 comment

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Original: Tesla & SolarCity’s New Solar Shingles

by Solar Ninja October 29, 2016

written by Solar Ninja

Originally published on CleanTechnica.
By Susanna Schick

Last night, on a back lot at Universal Studios, Tesla unveiled the most promising facet of its impending merger with SolarCity — solar shingles as chic and efficient as their cars. These were paired with new Powerwall home batteries that have double the energy density of Tesla’s first Powerwall product. (You can watch the full video of the presentation further down in this article if you didn’t already watch it in Steve’s article, on Tesla.com, or elsewhere.)

The event was primarily for Tesla owners, so it took me longer to get up the hill from the studio gate than it did to ride my Zero from Vernon at rush hour. But I did get to hitch a ride in a swanky Model X, which was a lovely way to start the Tesla world experience.

Riding there, I passed a Tesla Roadster and was overcome with awe at how far the company has come since the Roadster. Most mere mortals would’ve given up many times along the way. But not Elon Musk. He’s kept going, and won’t stop till he reaches his retirement community on Mars.

The Tesla solar roof was the biggest news, but the Powerwall 2 & Powerpack 2 are game-changers as well. Elon Musk stated that, combined with a $5,500 Powerwall 2, the solar shingles will actually be cheaper than buying conventional shingles and electricity from the grid. The shingles will be available by summer 2017. Here’s a nifty cost analysis of various batteries and grid power. It’s from 2015, so the numbers have most likely changed a bit, but it’s still useful for some perspective on cost and especially cost per kWh of storage.

Californians with traditional Spanish-style roofs are usually out of luck when it comes to living off the grid. The delicate terra cotta tiles don’t take well to having holes drilled in them, and conventional solar panels actually look exceptionally horrible in such stark contrast to the terra cotta tiles. So it was very impressive to see the curved tiles included in the presentation.

Note to engineers: Tesla is hard at work to solve the efficiency problem the curves present, but it’s true the curves are still a technical drawback. As shown on the sample roof, the Tuscan-style tiles would seem to have the least efficiency of the styles, as only the darker tiles are collecting solar energy and they are only doing so on the flat parts (not the curves). So they’re not quite capturing the authentic aged Tuscan look or full efficiency. Still, they’re a sweet option compared to no solar at all.

On the other hand, the French slate shingles are works of art. Tesla managed to create tiles just as beautiful as the real thing, only drastically more durable. Elon Musk told the audience that French slate is the hardest to replicate. Through the use of a hydrographic printing technique, each tile is unique, just like natural slate.

All the Tesla shingles utilize micro louvers to make the solar cells invisible from street view. Musk explained that this is the same technology used in privacy screens for laptops. So that roof really is as gorgeous in real life as it is in these photos. A video (below) showed how much stronger the Tesla quartz glass shingles are than traditional roofing materials as well — an impressive accomplishment. As for efficiency, they’re currently measuring a 2% loss over conventional panels, which is amazing for solar shingles. They’re also working to increase efficiency beyond 100% through light reflection within the shingles.

Solar roof glass tile vs. conventional roof tile pic.twitter.com/AnGWJ07jub

— Tesla (@Tesla) October 29, 2016

They’ve Got The Power

Tesla also showcased its new batteries — Powerwall 2 for homes and Powerpack 2 for industrial & utility customers. The new batteries are twice as energy dense as the old ones, thanks to their new 21–70 cells, which we wrote about a bit here.

While the world’s largest banks were somehow fleeced into investing into a pipeline that will only cause more problems than it could ever solve, Tesla has Powerpacks available for any utility company interested in kicking the (natural) gas habit. Southern California Edison has already ordered a 20 MW/80 MWh Powerpack substation to help ease its dependence on its crumbling gas storage reservoirs. In the press conference last night, I asked Tesla how long until all of Southern California can rely on Powerpacks instead of gas buried underground. Musk stated that once the system is up and running in Mira Loma, they will probably want to buy more Powerpacks.

After the Porter Ranch disaster, I contacted LADWP to find out what it was doing to kick the gas habit. Since 22% of its portfolio is natural gas, and 40% is coal, it pains me deeply to know that my EV is powered by one of the biggest environmental disasters in American history. Here is LADWP’s official response to my inquiry, from January of this year:

LADWP purchases natural gas from suppliers from out of state. Natural gas is conveyed into Southern California through SoCalGas’ system and to LADWP’s in-basin generating stations. LADWP does not have its own gas storage, and the management of SoCalGas’ system to get the gas to us in entirely their responsibility.

LADWP has been using natural gas more efficiently than ever since repowering older generating units at Haynes and most recently Scattergood generating stations.

LA’s goal is to be coal-free by 2025, and LADWP continues to aggressively increase the amount of renewable energy (solar, wind and geothermal power) provided to LA residents and businesses. We are on track to provide 33% renewable energy to customers by 2020, and 50% by 2035. However, the most abundant renewable resources, solar and wind, are both variable. They do not produce energy if the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. Until more storage technology or baseload geothermal power can be developed, natural gas provides an essential “bridge fuel” to ensure continuous, reliable power to our customers 24/7.

Hopefully now that LADWP has completed a 62-mile renewable transmission corridor, it’ll consider purchasing some Powerpacks to store that clean energy as well. Tesla is ready to take LADWP’s order, and help America’s second largest city live a little better.

October 29, 2016 0 comment

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Wafer-Thin Silicon Discs on Leading Edge of German R&D

by Aisha Abdelhamid July 6, 2015

written by Aisha Abdelhamid

Carrying out applied research throughout the entire process chain of wafer-based silicon solar module production, Fraunhofer CSP is currently working on improving the quality of wafer-thin silicon discs and in producing them as cheaply as possible.

July 6, 2015 0 comment

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SolarCentury Launches “SunStation” Building-Integrated PV (BIPV) Solar System

by Aisha Abdelhamid July 1, 2015

written by Aisha Abdelhamid

Homeowners demanding more “curb appeal” for their rooftop solar installations will be interested in the elegant new Solarcentury building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solar modules.

Sunstation, a new BIPV solar roof system designed with an eye to aesthetics, is now available from Solarcentury and primed for mass marketing with favorable pricing to make it competitive with conventional post-construction solar rooftop installation pricing.

July 1, 2015 0 comment

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Thin Film PV Market Looks To Grow The Most In 100 GW Solar Market

by Adam Johnston December 31, 2014

written by Adam Johnston

Thin film photovoltaics (PV) will become the technology preference in the 100 GW solar market, says one manufacturer.

Founder of Manz AG, Dieter Manz, told PV Tech recently that bigger production scales, along with advancement of global solar markets, will make thin-film PV markets ready for prime time.

Image Credit: Fieldsken via WikiPedia (Some Rights Reserved)

Manz also suggests his company’s backing of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) will pay off, saying the lower cost scale of CIGS is better than other market technologies.

“If we talk about the next generation and bigger markets, we are convinced crystalline technology is not the technology of choice. Thin-film will have a much better cost position, thin-film is much more reasonable to make it bigger – if you look at the cost structures of really big factories, 5GW or bigger, thin-film technology has a lot of advantages,” Manz added about thin-film’s competitive cost advantage over crystalline technology.

Manz sees lots of potential in thin-film PV, such as for rooftop solar and building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV). However, firm interest from utility-scale sectors from the globe’s top PV markets will continue dominating growth by far, he said.

Manz is not the only one who has gone big on thin-film PV.

Earlier this year, we reported that US-based First Solar (the #1 thin-film solar manufacturer and developer for years) at its Ohio manufacturing plant created the highest efficiency for a non-concentrating cadmium-telluride (CdTe) cell, at 21%.

In 2013, thin-film PV production was 3.5 Gigawatts-peak (GWp), according to German based Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, showing there is much room for growth. Conventional solar prices continue to fall, but so do thin-film solar prices, and their efficiencies have been improving much more quickly, so expect thin-film PV to increase within the solar market in the future, as solar energy becomes much more prevalent in our energy mix.

December 31, 2014 0 comment

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18 Million Euros Raised By Organic Solar Film Startup Heliatek

by Jake Richardson September 30, 2014

written by Jake Richardson

Heliatek GmbH, a German organic solar film startup, has brought in €18 million from a number of investors. One is AQTON SE investment holding headed by German entrepreneur and BMW heir Stefan Quandt. This latest round is the C or third round. The company has raised a total of €46 million. Previous investors include Bosch, BASF, Innogy Venture Capital1, Wellington Partners, eCAPITAL, HTGF and TGFS.

The extra funds will help Heliatek with its entry into the marketplace. Currently, its prototypes are being supplied to auto manufacturers and construction material companies.

For a startup, Heliatek has some impressive accomplishments. It holds the world record in efficiency for opaque organic solar cells at 12%. Their technology has also performed at 7% efficiency with up to 40% transparency.

“In the last 12 months, Heliatek has made enormous progress as the technology leader in organic solar films, and we are now looking forward to taking the next steps towards commercialization together with AQTON SE,” explained Paul-Josef Patt, CEO of eCAPITAL AG.

Solar film is appealing because it can be integrated into buildings to generate electricity using existing surface areas. Building integrated photovoltaics are an important part of new construction projects that will be near net-zero, or will be net zero due to legal requirements, “As early as 2018, all new public buildings will have to conform to a “nearly zero” standard. In the “Costs and Benefits of BIPV” study commissioned by the Economic Forum Ltd., architect Torsten Massek from the Polytechnic University of Barcelona predicts strong growth in the wake of the new EU Directive. According to Massek, high-rise buildings, for example, that have too little roof surface area to generate a sufficient amount of solar energy will only be able to meet the new criteria if photovoltaics or solar thermal is installed on the facade.”

Germany and France currently are leaders in BIPV.

NREL did a good job summarizing why BIPV might become more attractive, “Form has long played second fiddle to function in the world of solar PV, but building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are out to change that paradigm. BIPV encompasses a group of solar technologies that are built directly into the envelope of the host building, instead of mounted on the building’s exterior.

Whether it’s a roof, a window, a façade, or a curtain wall (an outer covering to a building that doesn’t carry any structural load; see bottom-left photo), BIPV modules can actually replace the construction materials that would otherwise be incorporated into such surfaces. BIPV performs the same functions as the replaced structures
(e.g. keeping out the weather) while at the same time generating electricity for onsite use. The semiconducting materials found in BIPV applications are much the same as you would find in the traditional PV technologies—and just as with traditional PV, crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules dominate the market.”

It will be fascinating to see what efficiency levels can be reached with organic solar film, especially when we are at the beginning phases of the higher ones.

September 30, 2014 0 comment

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Solar Sidewalk — A World First

by Nicholas Brown October 17, 2013

written by Nicholas Brown

As part of the Solar Walk project, a photovoltaic solar sidewalk has been constructed at the Virginia Science Technology Campus of George Washington University (GWU/GW).

This BIPV project, according to GWU, is only 100 square feet, but it still qualifies as a step towards solar walkways. The concept still has to be tested thoroughly, of course — the designers of this walkway will be evaluating how walkway performs under various real-world conditions.

“The solar sidewalk is a great example of GW’s commitment to innovation in design and sustainability and will be a reference for others to follow,” said Onyx Solar Vice President of Business Development Diego Cuevas.

Solar Sidewalk.
Image Credit: GWU

October 17, 2013 0 comment

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How Toxic Are Solar Panels? Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Solar Scorecard 2013

by Zach August 13, 2013

written by Zach

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) moments ago released its annual Solar Scorecard. I had the opportunity to talk with Sheila Davis, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, last week in advance of the official release. Below are some key notes from the official release and from my chat with Sheila.

Unfortunately, one of the main general findings from the latest SVTC study is that “most of the solar industry’s environmental practices remain hidden from the public.” If you’re not familiar with the SVTC Solar Scorecard, that openness has been a major focus up until now.

Solar farm in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Photo Credit: Marika Krakowiak / Solar Love

2013 Solar Scorecard Results

“The SVTC Solar Scorecard ranks manufacturers of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules according to a range of environmental, sustainability and social justice factors. In its fourth year of requesting environmental information from solar companies, SVTC is concerned: only ten companies representing 34.6 percent of the PV module market share responded to the 2013 SVTC survey and more than 25 percent of the top 40 solar companies fail to make almost any environmental information publicly available on their websites.” (Emphasis added.)

Not a great response and not great openness from the solar PV industry. Sheila emphasized on that call that, even if the companies chose not to respond to the survey, they should have some basic information about their solar practices on their websites. I’d agree, and it’s disappointing to find out that many of them aren’t doing so, including some major players.

Here are some more interesting (if depressing) statistics from this year’s survey:

Three of the top 40 PV manufacturers (REC, SolarWorld, Yingli) share with the public extensive chemical emissions disclosure and reporting.
Twelve of the top 40 PV manufacturers post annual hazardous chemical reduction targets on their websites or in sustainability reports.
The number of companies with fully funded Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes in the PV industry dropped from one to zero. First Solar, the only major company with a fully-funded EPR program for the last three years, has eliminated its EPR program in most of its US-based sales.
Trina Solar (77), Yingli (75), and SunPower (69), earned overall top scores for 2013. SolarWorld and REC earned the highest scores for sharing information about their emissions with the public.

Additionally, Sheila noted that leading solar manufacturers JA Solar, Jinko Solar, and Hanwha SolarOne didn’t reveal any information regarding their environmental or social practices. Furthermore, these companies scored in single digits (from a possible 100 points). That means that SVTC’s researchers couldn’t find the answers on the companies’ websites to almost any of the environmental questions from its Scorecard questionnaire. Pretty lame….

Sheila was clear on the call that she sees solar as one of the key solutions to our various environmental crises (such as global warming). However, being “green companies” by nature, these solar manufacturers should also be leading in other environmental and social ways, and they should be open about the environmental and social effects they are having. Clearly, this isn’t the story.

August 13, 2013 1 comment

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