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All articles of topic solar facade

© Karsten Socher Photography / www.KS-Fotografie.net
Solar window

New technology transforms windows into a source of solar power

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New window technology enables solar power to be generated directly from insulating glass. A prototype has now been installed and tested by Walter Fenster in Kassel in Germany.

© ABS
ABS Conference in Bern, Switzerland

Advanced Building Skins 2024: New solar facades in focus

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On 28 and 29 October 2024, modern facade architecture will be on the agenda at the Kursaal in Bern. The speakers at Advanced Building Skins will also be taking a closer look at solar facades.

© Malte Forstat / GW-News
Intersolar 2024, Munich 

Solar facades and BIPV: Here are first impressions from THE solar trade fair

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In line with our focus topic of this week – BIPV – here are some impressions from the past three days at The smarter E Europe 2024 in Munich, Germany. Solar facades and the integration of PV into the building envelope are a growing market segment. And this year‘s trade fair reflected that. Here are some first impressions:

© ML Systems
Topic of the Week: Solar facades:

Lithuania: BIPV for building designed by Daniel Libeskind

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ML System supplies photovoltaic glass to the prestigious 20-storey Artery business centre, located in Vilnius, designed by the world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind.

© Fraunhofer ISE
Topic of the Week: Solar facades:

How the glass industry can benefit from the market for BIPV

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Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) offers great opportunities for the glass industry - here is a German perspective from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), beginning with a general introduction:

© MO Energy Systems
Building integration

Standardised complete package for solar facades

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MO Energy Systems from Austria has developed a modular standard solution for solar facades. The scalable solution is suitable for existing and new buildings. It can be connected to concrete as well as brick and timber facades.

© Schüco International KG
BIPV

New office building with solar facade becomes a green powerhouse

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This new office building in Stuttgart, Germany, known as OWP 12 referring to its address, was created using the newest planning and building methods in accordance with the Cradle to Cradle principle and it shows what energy-plus architecture can do today thanks to the slimline, high performance facade with BIPV.

© Mario Brand Commercial Photography
Building-integrated photovoltaics

BGT Bischoff Glastechnik and ASCA build record-breaking solar facade

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The facade of the new building of the Gronau municipal utility in Münsterland will generate solar electricity in the future. The transparent solar modules custom-made by ASCA (Armor Group, manufacturer of organic photovoltaics - OPV) are very large and were integrated into facade glass by BGT Bischoff Glastechnik.

© Envelon
Grenzebach Group

Envelon PV facade awarded with 2022 MasterPrize

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At the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on 24 November, the customisable system for PV facades from Envelon received the Product Design of the Year award at the prestigious 2022 Architecture MasterPrize. Envelon is a subsidiary of the Grenzebach Group.

© Saint-Gobain / Megasol
Building-integrated PV

Saint-Gobain invests in Megasol for solar facades

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Saint-Gobain extends its range of sustainable solutions for facades in Europe by investing in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).

© GW-News
Video

Webinar: GW-News Talks ”Facades of the Future“

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In this edition of our webinar series GW-News Talks, Marcel Bilow of the Technical University Delft and Hannes Spiß of Isolar have been discussing some of the latest developments in the facade industry. See the video recording of the session here:

© Semiconductor/Laurits Jensen
Facade design:

Novartis Pavilion in Basel opens with energy-autonomous OPV media facade

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A futuristic building has been erected in Basel whose facade is surrounded by organic solar foils. They provide the energy for art animations, among other things, with which the facade is illuminated after sunset.

© Pilkington / www.felsch-foto.at
Pilkington:

Generating electricity from facade glass

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Pilkington offer a new BIPV glass that allows the generation of solar electricity from glass facades. Find out here how that works and why it can be beneficial:

© Fraunhofer ISE
Three-part series on building-integrated PV (BIPV) – Part 3:

What still needs to be done to create a mass market for BIPV

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Despite all the technical and aesthetic advances already described, barriers exist that prevent BIPV from becoming a mass product. These and the normative framework conditions are explained below:

© Fraunhofer ISE
Three-part series on building-integrated PV (BIPV) – Part 2:

What elements make up BIPV systems and how can they benefit the facade?

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A BIPV system consists of modules, inverters, cables, possibly power optimisers and the constructive integration of the modules into the building envelope. Considerable progress has been made in all areas over the past few years.

© Fraunhofer ISE

Top stories of the week

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PU foam mistakes to avoid, R+T 2022 postponed again, water-based wood primer and a series with Fraunhofer ISE on building-integrated PV. These are our top stories of the week:

© Armor ASCA
BTG / Armor Solar:

Glass facades generate solar power with organic PV

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Manufacturer Armor Solar from Kitzingen in Bavaria has developed a new technology with which organic solar cells (OPV) can be integrated quickly, easily and flexibly into any glass format and facade.

© A.P.L. Architekten/Hagen Plaehn
Glossary

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)

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Solar electricity on buildings is mainly generated with roof-mounted photovoltaics. However, a recent trend also sees PV being integrated into the building envelope.

© TU Delft / Bucky Lab
Bucky Lab 2020:

Zonnebloem: The self-protecting PV system

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Zonnebloem is a concept for a solar facade that not only produces clean electricity to help combat climate change but is also designed to cope with some of its expected impacts. See here how it works:

© TU Delft / Bucky Lab
Bucky Lab 2020:

A dual-axis tracking PV solar facade

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The “Solar Tracker” prototype is a concept for a solution to integrate photovoltaics into the building envelope. It was developed in the TU Delft’s Bucky Lab, part of the facade Master’s Degree course. See more here:

© TU Delft / Bucky Lab
Bucky Lab 2020:

The Energy Brick: A design for a solar-powered brick facade

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Focusing on building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), the 2020 Bucky Lab of the TU Delft in the Netherlands gave the students the opportunity to come up with new prototypes for solar facades:

© TU Delft / Bucky Lab
Bucky Lab 2020:

Green solar – cooling a solar facade with plants

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This student prototype developed by facade Master’s Degree students at the TU Delft’s Bucky Lab offers to solve the problem of efficiency loss in solar facades due to heat. The trick is integrating plants:

© M. Bilow / TU Delft
Bucky Lab 2020:

A clever adaptive PV facade

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Prototype concepts for adaptive solar facades presented as part of the 2020 Bucky Lab by facade Master’s Degree students of the TU Delft. This week: a solar second skin facade that moves as needed:

© SunCurtain
Solar blinds:

Shading system that also generates electricity

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The start-up Suncurtain from Kitzingen in southern Germany has developed a solution in which curtains become an electricity generator.

© Avancis
Solar facades:

Bronze-coloured facade that generates power

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Innovative energy-efficient building in Tübingen, Germany, generates its own electricity thanks to its solar facade and thus saves around 30 tonnes of CO2 per year.