SPECIAL FEATURE
This Los Angeles shopping center collects solar energy with a solar integrated BIPV membrane. (Photo courtesy of BASF)
matches with visible, ambient indoor light. This is its key to producing effi cient power output in the indoor-operating environment and is DSSC’s advan- tage over other types of photovoltaics. Cambridge, Mass.-based IDTechEx is predicting that the DSSC market will slowly grow to $290 million by 2023.
Hybrid technology does more Traditional solar PV systems convert approxi- mately 15 percent of the sun’s energy into elec- tricity and waste the remaining energy as heat. Solar effi ciency would increase signifi cantly if this surplus heat could be optimized. Naked En- ergy, Guildford, England, is trying to do this with a tubular hybrid solar panel that can do twice the work of a traditional fl at PV panel. The product, called Virtu, can generate electricity and hot water simultaneously. It draws heat away from the solar panel for space heating, hot water, desalination and cooling,
18 METAL CONSTRUCTION NEWS January 2013
and the photovoltaic is maintained at an optimum operating temperature. This results in signifi cantly higher electrical output than standard PV panels. Both energy outputs are optimized replacing the need for two separate conventional panels (PV and thermal), reducing installation time and cost while maximizing useable installation area. Virtu’s vacuum tubes have low thermal losses, and will produce abundant hot water and heat regardless of being installed in hot or cold climates. The annual yield depends on the application, local climatic conditions and panel quantity installed. With more than 30 customer projects, Moun-
tain View, Calif.-based Cogenra Solar is the most experienced developer of solar hybrid electric and hot water solutions in North America. Cogenra calls its technology Solar Cogeneration because it can create both electricity and hot water from a combined solar photovoltaic and thermal module. With it, 75 percent of the sun’s delivered energy is
converted. To attain this, Cogenra integrates silicon PV cells, concentrating planar optics with single- axis tracking and an innovative thermal transfer system in a low-cost and scalable design. Hybrid solar technology excels in high-energy
consumption buildings, like hotels, retirement homes, factories and hospitals or wherever large amounts of electricity, hot water, space heating or chilling and utility scale installations for desalination and power generation.
Transparent efforts A complaint about solar panels is that they are an “eyesore.” A new solar fi lm, created at UCLA is trying to change that. This new type of photoactive plastic solar cell is nearly 70 percent transparent to the naked eye. The polymer solar cells (PSC) convert infrared light, instead of visible light, into electricity. It incorporates silver nanowires approxi- mately 0.1 microns thick, about one-thousandth
www.metalconstructionnews.com
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