Heliatek and RECKLI present solar-active concrete façade

 

Europe’s first solar concrete wall has recently been inaugurated at the headquarters of German-based RECKLI GmbH, a supplier of elastic formliners, formworks and elastomers in the construction sub-supplier industry. The façade, designed by RECKLI to fit the HeliaFilm solar film from Heliatek GmbH, represents a novel approach to BIOPV (Building Integrated Organic Photovoltaics). Heliatek is located in Dresden and specialises in organic electronics energy generation.

Together, the two partners want to use the common project in the town of Herne to demonstrate the next step towards a sustainable, net-zero energy building. With an installed power of 1kWp, the south-west oriented, solar active concrete wall will supply around 500kWh of electricity per year. The energy produced will be used directly by Reckli.

The annual energy output is expected to be about 25% above the yield of silicon technology. Heliatek has already shown that its solar film, HeliaFilm, delivers more energy under overcast sky conditions and at high temperatures compared to traditional solar cells. This advantage is reported to be based on the unique properties of its organic semiconductor. In addition, the film allows a wide range of colours and flexible layouts – both features sought after by architects and planners.

The solar active concrete façade in Herne comprises three rows of concrete modules with vertically mounted integrated solar film (total area: 16,80m x 3,50m); a peak power at standard test conditions of 1kWp; and an expected annual power production of 500kWh. Dr Thomas Bickl, Heliatek’s VP sales & product development, comments: “We are very happy to see the progress of our joint development project. The unique features of our solar films like ultra-thin, low weight and flexible layout fit this application perfectly. About 130 million square metres of concrete facades are installed every year worldwide – this is our target market!”