As I strolled through isles of products being exhibited at Intersolar North America 2015, one BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) company, Helios Solar Works caught my attention, above, with the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Helios Solar Works Steven Ostrenga.This BIPV module system is a monocrystalline, 200 watt module system that may sit on top of or be integrated into the rooftop, waterproof, with integrated frame and 25 year warrenty period. This BIPV module system is lighter, easier to maintain, less ventilation or leakage issue, and aesthetically more pleasing than the traditional rooftop PV.
Helios Solar Works-A robot works on crystalline solar cells at Wisconsin-based Helios USA, LLC. (credit: Helios Solar Works LLC)
As it turned out, Helios Solar Works LLC was Milwaukee’s first solar module manufacturing facility that has helped to create many local full-time and part-time jobs for the local economy. Definitely, automation has also played a significant part behind the success of Helios.The founding of the company was based around some basic tenets: such as solar electricity is essential for nation’s energy security, environment, and economy. It is currently engaged in research, development, sales and services of solar panels and PV systems, supplying products to more than 60 countries (such as Germany, Spain, Italy, America, Canada, Korea, Japan, China, etc.) and five continents. Their products are used in residential as well as in commercial and industrial solar power systems, PV power stations and many other areas. As the company expands and reorganizes, it is now located in 632 College Drive, McDowell County, North Carolina. As companies expand globally, it becomes even more important for business leaders to appreciate the concept of economic interdependence in order to operate optimally.
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, edited, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any comments and suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams!”
“Le futur appartient a ceux qui croient a la beaute de leurs reves!”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~
If such were the case, then people from Taiwan are simply some of the most beautiful dreamers on this planet. During the month of February of 2015, I had the opportunity to visit Taiwan. Its neighboring states include thePeople’s Republic of Chinato the west,Japanto the east and northeast, and thePhilippinesto the south. Its former name Formosa dates back to 1542 when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, meaning “beautiful island“.
Upon closer examination, one realizes some of the significant contributing factors to Taiwan’s success story: it is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, and human development.
To summarize my overall impression of Taipei, Taiwan: it is one of the most civilized 21st century cities in the world! It is a city where people are polite, orderly, and considerate, with the cleanest subway system I’ve ever seen where not a single piece of trash could be found !
It is not surprising that one would be able to find some of the most progressive and aesthetically intriguing architectural designs in Taiwan, as seen above and below in the Agora Garden Tower design by Vincent Callebaut Architectures SARL and various projects. It is a new sustainable residential tower in Taipei currently under construction to be completed in 2016. In the center of Xinyin District of Taipei, the Agora Garden project (as the name suggests, Agora, in ancient Greece, means a public open space used for assemblies and markets) aims at limiting its inhabitants’ ecologic footprints by building a vertical landscape with low energetic consumption on this last and only biggest parcel of land for residential use. It integrates the recycling of organic waste, used water, renewable energies, and various state-of-the-art nanotechnologies (BIPV solar PV, rain water recycling/harevesting, composts, etc.). The BIPV’s are placed in the pair of giant horizontal shades atop the building. Its trademark spiral is inspired by the double helix of the DNA molecule, suggestive of the life force it brings to the city. Utilizing its helical twist through a 90 degree angle (at 4.5 degrees per level in this 20- level building), it is creating a series of “suspended open-air gardens”, superimposing vertically wide planted balconies of suspended orchards, organic vegetable gardens, aromatic gardens, and other medicinal gardens. Contrary to our historical perception of “buildings”, Vincent Callebaut has created a living organism in Agora, overpassing the passive role of most buildings as passive energy-consumers. Agora is designed not only to be self-sufficient in terms of energy (electric, thermal, and alimentary), but has gone a step beyond to produce its own organic food while taking a dynamically fluid geometry! I never thought I would see a building that would be able to project our human relationship to nature and our environment so musically! It is truly a Helical Force of Life!
Agora has answered the four main ecologic objectives:
reduction of the climatic global warming
protection of the nature and the biodiversity
protection of the environment and the quality of life
At InterSolar North America 2014 in San Francisco, CA, I came across a potentially game-changing technology that holds much promise for low cost solar power in the future. This technology, the perovskite thin-film solar cells, is currently being developed by Oxford PV (a spin-out from the University of Oxford in 2009-2010 to commercialize this technology, which has exclusively licensed the intellectual property developed by Professor Henry Snaith and his team of 20 scientists). The perovskite thin-film solar cells can be directly printed/sprayed onto glass to produce a semi-transparent colored coating. Below is an interview with the Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Christopher Case, of Oxford PV:
The apparent enthusiasm of Dr. Case is seen in his discussion of the perovskite cell technology. One can understand the source of Dr. Case’s enthusiasm. According to Dr. Case, “the perovskite in solar application is the fastest increasing photovoltaic efficiency of any solar photovoltaic thin film material ever! In just a few years, it went from a lab efficiency of about 6% to well over 17%…the material is a very good solar absorber….bringing the material to 25% efficiency in a monolithic layer and 30%+ in a perovskite tandem layer….potentially the future replacement for silicon.” This perovskite solar cell technology is optimized to drive a paradigm shift in the aesthetics, performance, and cost of BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) systems, potentially bringing low cost electricity to the solar market much sooner than predicted. It is no wonder the highly respected international journal, Nature, has named Dr. Henry Snaith of University of Oxford as one of the ten people who have made the most difference in science during 2013 in recognition of his work on this next generation solar power technology. Let’s also take a look at the comparison between Convetional PV vs. Oxford PV, below (provided by www.oxfordpv.com):
Conventional PV Oxford PV_________________
Opaque Range of transparency options
Blue or Black Palette of colors and tints
Contains scarce elements and rare earths Sustainable, abundant, organic ingredients
Complex, high temperature and high vacuum manufacturing Simple screen printing manufacturing processes
High capital cost of manufacturing Low capital cost of manufacturing
Heavy panels physically attached to building Aesthetically attractive glazing panels integrated into the building envelope
Without using the titanium dioxide as a semiconductor, this technology results in higher levels of efficiency, much lower processing temperature, and improved cell stability. Oxford PV plans on continuing to optimize this technology’s cell efficiency and accelerate the transfer of the technology into production. Furthermore, it aims to develop the range of substrates to which the cells can be applied.
Oxford PV has a strong supporting team (such as Kevin Arthur, Dr. David Fyfe, Paul Vickery, etc.) With its promising future, we, the solar enthusiasts and investors alike, should keep our eyes on Oxford PV in the coming years.
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any of your questions/comments/suggestions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:
If you are in favor of renewable/CLEAN energy, please sign the petition page showing support for FIT/CLEAN Program at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065 Thank you.
My friends and readers, Dow Solar Shingles were not just discovered yesterday. In the 1970’s PV (photovoltaics) applications for buildings began appearing, with aluminum-framed PV modules connected to, or mounted on buildings that were usually in remote areas without access to an electric power grid. In the 1980’s PV module add-ons to roofs surfaced. These PV systems were usually installed on utility-grid-connected buildings in areas with centralized power stations. In the 1990’s building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), construction products designed to be integrated into a building envelope (physical separator between the interior and exterior environments of a building) such as the roof, skylights, or facades, became commercially available. These materials are increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, although existing buildings may be retrofitted with BIPV modules as well. According to Business Wire of April 5, 2011, “the global BIPV market will see strong growth in the coming years, with annual wholesale revenues rising from $744 million in 2010 to nearly $4 billion in 2016….”
Building-Integrated Photovoltaic modules are available in different forms: Flat roofs (a thin film solar cell integrated to a flexible polymer roofing membrane is the most widely installed flat roofs to date);Pitched roofs ( solar shingles are modules designed to look and act like regular shingles, while incorporating a flexible thin film cell and extending normal roof life by protecting insulation and membranes from ultraviolet rays and water degradation…this is accomplished through elimination of condensation because the dew point is kept above the roofing membrane.);Facades (modules are mounted on the facade of the building, over the existing structure, providing old building a new look and increase the appeal of the building and its resale value);Glazing (semitransparent modules can be used to replace elements made with glass or similar materials, such as windows and skylights.).
In some countries, additional incentives are offered for building-integrated photovoltaics in addition to the existing feed-in tariffs for stand-alone solar systems. (I promise I will go into details in explaining “feed-in-tariffs” in future posts). Since July 2006 France offered the highest incentive for BIPV, equal to an extra premium of EUR 0.25/kWh paid in addition to the 30 Euro cents for PV systems. These incentives are offered in the form of a rate paid for electricity fed to the grid.
Further to the announcement of a subsidy program for BIPV projects in March 2009 offering RMB20/watt for BIPV systems and RMB15/watt for rooftop systems, the Chinese government recently unveiled a photovoltaic energy subsidy program “the Golden Sun Demonstration Project”. The subsidy program aims at supporting the development of photovoltaic electricity generation ventures and the commercialization of PV technology. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Energy Bureau have jointly announced the details of the program in July 2009. Qualified on-grid photovoltaic electricity generation projects including rooftop, BIPV, and ground mounted systems are entitled to receive a subsidy equal to 50% of the total investment of each project, including associated transmission infrastructure. Qualified off-grid independent projects in remote areas will be eligible for subsidies of up to 70% of the total investment. In mid November, China’s finance ministry has selected 294 projects projects totaling 642 megawatts that come to roughly RMB 20 billion ($3 billion) in costs for its subsidy plan to dramatically boost the country’s solar energy production.
What can I say….we need MORE INCENTIVES FOR SOLAR in US if we are truly aiming for SunShot Initiative and truly aiming to lead in the renewable energy era !!
More discussions remain in future posts on incentive for solar….
