Heliatek builds large BIOPV installation

 

The Heliatek GmbH, a leading producer of organic solar films, has launched the largest building-integrated organic photovoltaic installation (BIOPV) of its kind. The films of the product line HeliaFilms were manufactured at the company’s headquarters in Dresden, Germany. Heliatek’s project partner AGC Glass Europe, a subsidiary of the leading Japanese flat glass producer AGC, was responsible for laminating the HeliaFilms between two glass panels.

“Heliatek’s solar film is the ideal solution for building integrated photovoltaics (BiPV). Thanks to their durability and the augmented specific energy yield, a number of building and construction material producers have already chosen HeliaFilm,” commented Thibaud le Seguillon, CEO of Heliatek. “Organic PV consumes less energy in production compared to the manufacture of crystalline silicon solar cells, and HeliaFilm is perfectly suited to glass walls of all kinds,” adds Frederic Bonnefoy, product manager active glass at AGC Glass Europe. “Its outstanding sensitivity at faint light and its excellent performance at high temperature make it the product of choice for different BiPV applications.”

The entire BIOPV installation was built in Dresden as well. It was conducted at a façade facing to the East, in order to be able to demonstrate the augmented specific energy yield under less attractive conditions, which are commonplace in BiPV applications. A comprehensive measuring system records both the film and the environmental temperatures, as well as sunlight intensity and energy yield. The energy generated is used directly by Heliatek for the lighting of its offices.