News and current projects from Sunovation

MVZ Marburg with PV-facade made by SUNOVATION

Glazed facade rounding with power generating curved glass-glass modules

Elsenfeld, June 2022 –  Medizinisches Versorgungszentrum Marburg with seamless building-integrated photovoltaic facade. The glazed facade rounding of the building is equipped with active photovoltaic modules. For this purpose SUNOVATION manufactured curved glass-glass modules of 2 to 3 m² each in five different heights and a radius of 2.5 meters.

Old building in need of renovation

The Marburg Medical Care Center has an enormous power consumption due to the use of special diagnostic equipment. Therefore, in the course of modernizing the existing building, a power-generating photovoltaic façade was used to produce sustainable energy. Architect Hagen Plaehn cleverly transformed the multi-story building into a modern yet functional, sustainable structure.

 

Special architecture with seamless building-integrated photovoltaics.

The photovoltaic façade consists of individually manufactured, frameless glass-glass modules SUNOVATION eFORM color. In order to meet the special features of the existing building, modules and substructure are custom-made. The glazed facade rounding of the building, as well as the rest of the facade, is equipped with active photovoltaic modules. For this purpose, curved glass-glass modules of 2 to 3 m² each were manufactured in five different heights and a radius of 2.5 meters.

 

Key technical data

BIPV facade

317 m²

Glass-glass-modules

SUNOVATION eFORM color HPB 161 pcs.

 

28 different geometries & sizes

Electrical power  

55 kWp nom.

Construction

The black photovoltaic facade is designed as a ventilated curtain wall. SG frames are attached to the back of the glass-glass modules for easy hooking into the substructure. For the curved glass-glass modules, precisely fitting curved SG frames were manufactured and glued to the curved elements. The result is an actively power-generating edgeless rounded photovoltaic façade. This construction method is made possible by the special production process SCET (SUNOVATION Cell Embedding Technology). Here, the module composite is produced by means of a cold filling process, which enables stress-free embedding of the photovoltaic cells in curved glass.

 

Innovation award for integrated photovoltaics 2022

Award winner: Project Matzleinsdorfer Platz in Vienna

Innovationsaward Integrierte Photovoltaik 2022 Bahnsteig Matzleinsdorfer Platz - SUNOVATION eFORM

Elsenfeld, April 2022 –  The project "Bahnsteig Matzleinsdorfer Platz" in Vienna by Architekturbüro Reinberg ZT with glass-glass modules from SUNOVATION has won this year's "Prize for PV in Infrastructure" from TPPV - Technologieplattform Photovoltaik Österreich.

Jury Statement: The application of PV on platform roofs is an ideal field of application with many advantages; multifunctionality: apart from weather protection, electricity production is combined with sun protection of the railroad area; reduction of artificial lighting due to semi-transparent modules; this project has great publicity; it should be pioneering and a model for other platforms and similar applications; it would be desirable if this becomes the standard for public stations.

 

Future technology perovskite solar modules

SUNOVATION develops Perovskite Solar Modules in color with KIT Research Team

Solarzelle in Marmoroptik

Elsenfeld, February 2022 - SUNOVATION, together with researchers from KIT, developed an inkjet printing method for inking perovskite solar modules as part of the PrintPero research project funded by the BMBF. Perovskite solar cells are considered a technology of the future and already achieve efficiencies of more than 25 percent in the laboratory. Since aesthetic integration into the overall architectural concept is particularly important in building-integrated photovoltaics, the project team worked on the development of colored perovskite cells. Here, the researchers were able to achieve efficiencies of 14 percent with their colored perovskite cells. "This is already a very good value for the current state of development, which shows the potential of the technology for the future," says Christof Erban, Head of R&E at SUNOVATION.

Future technology

Perovskite solar cells show efficiencies of over 25 percent in the laboratory. However, this is still only true on a small scale: "In addition to stability, a central hurdle for the market entry of the technology is to transfer the high efficiency achieved on small surfaces to large surfaces," says tenure-track professor Ulrich W. Paetzold from the KIT Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT). SUNOVATION has already been working with various coloring processes for many years. For example, the colored solar modules of the currently largest solar plant in the world in Mecca come from the German manufacturer SUNOVATION. Currently, high-performance colored modules for solar facades are produced with crystalline cells and colored coating processes, since the best yields can still be achieved with this technology (see "ColorQuant" collection).

 

Förderkennzahl Project PrintPero: 03SF0557B

Details  KIT-Zentrum Energie: www.energie.kit.edu

Details SUNOVATION: www.sunovation.de

 

Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE 21/22)

SUNOVATION supplies solar facade & solar roof for Team MIMO from Düsseldorf

Elsenfeld, March 2022 - In June 2022, the final of the Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 (SDE 21/22) will take place in Wuppertal. 18 teams from eleven countries are taking up the challenge of improving tomorrow's housing and living. The renowned university competition is about renovation and redensification designs for future climate-neutral neighborhoods. SUNOVATION supports the Düsseldorf team MIMO with glass-glass modules eFORM clear for their building-integrated solar facade and solar roofing.

New generation of colored solar modules for building integration

"ColorQuant" collection with maximum PV performance

BIPV-Farben - SUNOVATION eFORM unichrome Kollektion ColorQuant_Farbige Solarmodule mit maximaler PV-Leistung

Elsenfeld, February 2022 – SUNOVATION, german manufacturer of BIPV modules is expanding the range of colored photovoltaic modules for building integration with the new "ColorQuant" color collection.

In cooperation with a renowned color manufacturer, SUNOVATION has developed a new type of color coating for solar glass modules. The result is a collection of colored glass-glass modules available exclusively from SUNOVATION, which impresses with its aesthetics and high PV performance. Innovative pigments ensure rich color coverage with high transparency for optimized absorption of light on the solar cell. The "ColorQuant" color collection consists of 15 exclusive color shades with color-dependent PV outputs of 140-180 Wp/m².

Through a combination of "optimizing PV performance" and "minimizing power losses through coloring", SUNOVATION masters the balancing act between module optics and module performance with this new color collection: coloring of photovoltaic modules inevitably leads to a certain reduction in PV performance. The challenge in the development and production of colored solar modules is to minimize this undesirable influence. SUNOVATION eFORM unichrome glass-glass-modules are configured individually according to customer requirements. A special manufacturing process (SCET - Sunovation Cell Embedding Technology) enables the production of precisely fitting modules with individual glass structures. The use of high-performance crystalline PV cells, integrated diodes and an individually optimized cell layout results in maximum PV-output/m². Combined with a specially developed technology for coloring, the exclusive collection of high-performance colored PV modules for building integration has been created. Based on coloring by interference, the sunlight is split up like in a prism. Light needed to generate energy continues to reach the PV cell through the colored layers, while the wavelengths responsible for the coloring are selectively reflected. The influence of the coloring on the performance of the PV cells is reduced to a minimum by using this technology.

The colored glass-glass modules are used in particular in solar facades. "In the last two years, we have seen a significant increase in demand from architects and building owners for aesthetically pleasing PV-modules that can also make a relevant contribution to energy generation in the building envelope," says Heribert Ley, Managing Director of SUNOVATION. "The "ColorQuant" collection is therefore very well received by our customers. The first facade projects with new color shades are already ordered and will be realized in 2022." Unlike other colored PV modules, the integrated PV cells remain invisible in all weather conditions and retain their colored glass appearance from all viewing angles.