A new European project is launched to produce bespoke photovoltaic facades with one click
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIl PV you can design, customize and produce only with a click. From now on, creating an entire customized photovoltaic facade will be possible by going directly to its production and thanks to the new software SmartFlex.
For the amusement of architects, therefore, for the first time it will be possible to create customized photovoltaic construction elements thanks to a new ambitious European project.
With the project SmartFlex - funded with € 2,9 million under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program for Research and Innovation - professionals in the sector will be able to design and commission, even remotely, a customized photovoltaic facade and highly efficient at the push of a button.
“Thanks to an intuitive planning software in the future, architects will be able to configure the photovoltaic modules to fit the building. The elements of the glass modules, for example, can be round or triangular ", explains Paul Grunow, director of the Berlin Photovoltaic Institute (PI Berlin).
This means that from now on it will not be only the standard modules that will be destined for mass production: even the new "extraordinary" elements, far from being made manually, will be part of a production process largely automated.
“SmartFlex aims for extremely versatile and intelligent series production, which also makes custom-made photovoltaic elements profitable,” says Grunow.
HOW IT WORKS - A prototype of production line able to produce photovoltaic modules according to the different needs of architects. The software will transfer the desired shapes, colors, sizes and materials for the photovoltaic elements directly to the production line.
The tests are carried out on the approximately 200 square meter façade of an office building which is the seat of the project partner Glassbel, in the Lithuanian city of Klaipėda. Here it will be determined which photovoltaic modules are particularly suitable for producing energy once integrated in the building. The façade will allow the testing of 20 different photovoltaic elements, including modules up to 3,5 meters long and with a maximum output of 750 watts peak.
“Electricity can also be produced with building facades, not just roofs. Integrated photovoltaic systems have great potential that has been virtually untapped until now, ”says Juras Ulbikas, director of the Applied Research Institute for Prospective Technologies (ProTech) research group in Vilnius, Lithuania and coordinator of the SmartFlex project. “We are working on a plug & play solution for buildings that is easy to install and at the same time able to meet the needs of architects and installers; an ambitious goal. I am very pleased that such high-caliber partners are participating in the project “.
Among the participating members are, in addition to ProTech, the Berlin Photovoltaic Institute and Glassbel, also the international system builder Mondragon Assembly, the photovoltaic system manufacturer Via Solis, the Swiss competence center for integrated photovoltaics (SUPSI), the creative software developer Amadeo and the Sunbeam Communications agency, specializing in renewable energy.
Germana Carillo
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