The green transition requires massive installation of photovoltaics (PV) to support the electrification of our energy sector and reduce CO2 emissions. On EU level, buildings account for almost 40% of the CO2 emission, which could be minimized substantially with increased installation of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV). However, conventional PV falls short in BIPV applications, due to lack of colour tuning, semi-transparency and ease of integration.
At SDU CAPE, we develop colourful, flexible, lightweight and transparent organic photovoltaic cells and modules, and work on their scaled-up manufacturing and integration into various prototypes. Such colour-tuned and transparent BIPV possess a huge untapped potential in the harvesting of solar energy, where it readily can be embedded in buildings applications worldwide, e.g. in windows and façade envelopes, to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and support the needed development of nearly zero-energy buildings. This represents a strategic sector for Europe, and an opportunity to accelerate and reduce the cost of the next generation of sustainable renewable energy technologies for buildings. It will thus contribute to reaching zero-emission society, in line with the European Green Deal policy and the new climate legislation in DK. It will also strengthen the DK position in the growing field of BIPV.
The technology development is mainly in-house (SDU CAPE and facilities), and in collaboration with existing external industrial partners (e.g. ASCA, InfinityPV, FOM Technologies, RACELL, others). The collaboration includes international as well as national partners through a large portfolio of running research and development projects on organic and transparent photovoltaics, i.e. the H2020 CITYSOLAR project developing transparent PV for windows. Technology acceptance and market penetration is also covered though activities within the SDU Climate Cluster Elite Center SOLEN, on Solar Energy Conversion and Storage, having SDU CAPE as coordinator (PI Morten Madsen).
The BIPV activities at SDU CAPE span a TRL range from 2 to 6.
Link to H2020 project CITYSOLAR: https://www.citysolar-h2020.eu/
Link to organic photovoltaic projects at SDU CAPE: https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/cape/forskningsprojekter
Contact:
Professor Morten Madsen
Head of SDU CAPE
Head of SCC Elite Center SOLEN
madsen@mci.sdu.dk