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Renewable Energy: Thinfilm PV panels or strips

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1 to 15 of 15

  1.  
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014
     
    I'm looking for some updated info on Thinfilm PV products. I'm looking for a very discreet installation on a 200m2 roof surface. This surface can be seen by properties located higher up the hills and we're not allowed to have normal shiny, ugly PV panels installed on the roofs because the architecture of the neighborhood has to be preserved. I would like to find a product that simply gives the roof a black matte look with no references to normal PV panels. Does something like this exist? :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014
     
    Solar slates or tiles.
    http://www.solarslate-ltd.com/ Or similar.
    Thin Film is only the method of depositing the reactive materials, it has little to do with the substrate onto which they are attached (usually glass).
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014
     
    Hello SteamyTea,
    That is a great looking product - It seems mostly suited for slated roofs for more classical buildings. I'm looking for something that can blend in to a flat roof on a modernist building, 1960's architecture, so the individual tiling looks out of place. If you know other products do let me know.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014 edited
     
    You're planning to apply film horizontal on the surface of a flat roof? And they're objecting to that?!!
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014
     
    Hi fostertom,
    No they aren't objecting to that, they just object to the normal kind of PV panels. But I would like to find something that will blend as good as possible with the typical roof construction of this architectural period. But i'm not updated on what's on the market. I saw these Thin Film Solar PV Membranes: http://www.solarpv.co.uk/siteimages/alwitra1-300.jpg and tried to find something like that where the roof could be plastered with them to appear as a single homogenous surface.
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014
     
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014 edited
     
    I need the product to be very thin, as we are struggling to keep the roof construction thin already without the PV's installed. :wink:
    I need to be able to walk on them too to remove leaves and debris a few times per year.

    I remember reading about the Thin Film a few years ago, then the consensus were that they were too inefficient, but it seems like there are more effective outputting variants today?
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014 edited
     
    I found this random product:
    http://sinoltech.en.made-in-china.com/product/AbPxwqflhORH/China-144W-Membrane-PV-Thin-Film-Solar-Panel-Flexible.html

    Something like this might work, I'm not sure about the output though, but it seems to be pretty simple to install/apply to a finished roof surface? It's very expensive though
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014 edited
     
    Does this flat roof have much shading on it. You can get greater yield from horizontal panels, though as you say, they need debris cleaning off them.
    You are going to struggle to get anything you can walk on that has a half decent efficiency (flexible ones have an efficiency of about half a normal module).

    Can you just integrate the modules into your roof with a smallish air gap beneath them, then any air can be mechanically extracted? The modules can be spaced so that there is a walkway between them.
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2014
     
    Hello again,
    Yes the roof will have shading on it. Thank you for the clarification about the efficiency of the flexible ones.
    I have looked at the panels from Solar Frontier:
    http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/products/index.html
    They seem to be 35mm thick, but i'm not sure if that is the total thickness including the installation?
    As this is a flat roof, I would prefer not to puncture the roof to open up for water leaking problems. So it seems quite hard.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2014
     
    Just as a comparison here is a bog standard Axitec module, with an efficiency of (up to) 16.6%
    http://www.axitecsolar.com/solarmodule-axipremium-60-cells-mono.html

    And a Suntech one at 15.7%
    http://file4.fanyacdn.com/imglibs/files/STP305_Ve%28H4_305_300_poly%29_EN.pdf?time%3D0

    Shading is going to be a problem if it lasts (somewhere) for most of the day. But does not cause much of a problem on overcast days. But as your roof area is large, can you find an area that is least affected (stick a time lapse camera up there and have a look).

    Most modules are about 40mm thick, then there is the rail fixing system that adds on another 100 mm or so. You are going to struggle to find a system that does not have mechanical fixings through the roof membrane.
  12.  
    Does anyone have any experience of solar slates like the ones mentioned by ST above? Do they have a decent efficiency? Does anyone know how they compare price wise to regular panels (puchase and install)?

    I am in a potential tricky situation with planning where they are happy for panels on the back, but less so on the front as I am in a conservation area, but I need both to meet Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 in a sensible way.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2014
     
    They generally are less efficiency (but still pretty good), for a number of reasons, but they work well and look OK.
    There is a community building down here that has one roof covered in them, I had never noticed it and I drove past most days.

    The biggest concern I have about them is getting replacements in a few years time.
    • CommentAuthorFjord
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2014
     
    Hi again SteamyTea,

    I really appreciate all your great info!
    The total thickness mentioned is too much for the space availalbe and the penetration of the roof also something I would prefer not to.
    i have looked a bit more at the flexible photovoltaic modules and found these from unisolar:
    http://www.soldonsun.com/files/UNI-PVL136.pdf they can be installed with no ventilation and penetration. I understand from what you say that the efficiency is very low, but since i have a large roof area would it be something that could be considered? If i apply 172m2 of these, i'll get a performance of 10880 watt (based on 80 of these strips!) How would such a setup compare to what you're suggesting in terms of performance?
    I just checked the household energy consumption for last year and it was close to 10,000 kWh, so I'm not sure how much a system like this would help?
    Sorry for all these basic questions.
    :bigsmile:
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2014
     
    Have you been to the PVGIS site and run their calculator?
    http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php?lang=en&map=europe

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