News and current projects from Sunovation

Terra Sustainability Pavilion - Building Magazine Awards 2022

Shortlisted in the "International Project of the Year" category

Elsenfeld, September 2022 – The Terra - Sustainability Pavilion by Grimshaw Architects, equipped with glass-glass modules from SUNOVATION, is among the five finalists in the "International Project of the Year" category of this year's Building Magazine Awards.

Roadshow building integrated photovoltaics

Accompanying exhibition with SUNOVATION eFORM modules

Roadshow BIPV 2022

Elsenfeld, June/Juli 2022 – SUNOVATION is currently on a roadshow through Baden Württemberg with its glass-glass modules for building-integrated photovoltaic facades and roofing. The roadshow on building-integrated photovoltaics is an event of the "BIPV Initiative Baden-Württemberg", which is sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment of Baden-Württemberg. The series of events revolves around building-integrated photovoltaics - from planning to system components, framework conditions to design options and best-practice examples.

 

The BIPV initiative was founded by the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects and the three project partners Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE), Konstanz University of Applied Sciences (HTWG) and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). Participation in the roadshow on building-integrated photovoltaics is accredited by the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects for members and for AiP with 3 teaching hours.


Further information and registration at www.akbw.de/bipv-roadshow

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