PVs serve their purpose on the rooftop but making them and putting them to use in small or curved spaces is a challenge. To overcome this, the Helmholtz Association brought flexible, lightweight, and semi-transparent PV.
Helmholtz Association, a German research group, hopes to pace up the adoption of flexible printed solar PV technologies. This will be done through their Solar Technology Acceleration Platform (Solar TAP) initiative. In this they will be transferring advances made in the lab to industry.
Solar TAP aims to bring lightweight solar solutions in a wide color range with greater range of transparency. The aim to add greater bandgap tunability than the amount which is available in the market today.
According to the manager of Solar TAP, Jens Hauch, the participants are developing a roadmap and technology is underway. Manager Hauch further added, “We have started several bilateral transfer activities and projects with industry members.”
Solar TAP is addressing potential high-growth PV solutions for multi/dual-use. This include building integrated PV (BIPV), agrivoltaics, Internet-of-Things (IoT), and mobility.
About the Company
It was launched in 2023 and 3 out of 18 Helmholtz research centers are leading the initiative. The centers include Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Solar TAP is a 3-year-old initiative that secured $16.6 million (€15.1 million) from Helmholtz Association. After launching the featured presentation by Solar TAP community members from academia and industry, the initiative has organized 3 one-day events.
Source: Getting lightweight, flexible, semi-transparent PV from lab to fab