Composite material incorporating protective coatings for photovoltaic cell encapsulation

Photovoltaic modules consisting of one back-contact cell were manufactured by vacuum resin infusion process using glass reinforced epoxy composite as encapsulant where the cells are embedded. Incorporation of three coatings onto the composite surface was studied with the aim to improve the electrical performance stability of the modules under ultraviolet (UV), thermal cycling and damp-heat environmental weathering. Photovoltaic and aging performance were examined through the short-circuit current density values and colour change of the composite. Decrease in the initial photovoltaic performance of the modules was caused by the coating deposition. The highest drop in the initial values was observed for the varnish type coating, showing a decrease of 2.6% in short-circuit current. Regarding the performance stability, the decrease was more pronounced in the damp-heat test, presenting the varnish type coating the minimum loss of 1.4% in short-circuit current and a variation of 87% in b* chromatic parameter after 1000 h exposure at 85 °C and 85% relative humidity. The study concluded that the protective coating should be selected to provide the composite modules with an optimal trade-off between the initial electrical performance and the desired stability, with further research work targeted to improve moisture barrier properties.This work was supported by Eurostars Programme (Grant Agreement E12409) and Basque Government Elkartek 2021 Programme (Grant Agreement KK-2021/00066)

A key review of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems

WOS: 000410699300003Renewable and sustainable energy generation technologies have been in the forefront due to concerns related to environment, energy independence, and high fossil fuel costs. As part of the EU's 2020 targets, it is aimed to reach a 20% share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption by 2020, according to EU's renewable energy directive. Within this context national renewable energy targets were set for each EU country ranging between 10% (for Malta) and 49% (for Sweden). A large share of renewable energy research has been devoted to photovoltaic systems which harness the solar energy to generate electrical power. As an application of the PV technology, building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems have attracted an increasing interest in the past decade, and have been shown as a feasible renewable power generation technology to help buildings partially meet their load. In addition to BIPV, building integrated photovoltaic/thermal systems (BIPV/T) provide a very good potential for integration into the building to supply both electrical and thermal loads. In this study, we comprehensively reviewed the BIPV and BIPVT applications in terms of energy generation amount, nominal power, efficiency, type and performance assessment approaches. The two fundamental research areas in the BIPV and BIPVT systems are observed to be i) improvements on system efficiency by ventilation, hence obtaining a higher yield with lowering the panel temperature ii) new thin film technologies that are well suited for building integration. Several approaches to achieve these objectives are reported in the literature as presented in this paper. It is expected that this comprehensive review will be beneficial to researchers and practitioners involved or interested in the design, analysis, simulation, and performance evaluation, financial development and incentives, new methods and trends of BIPV systems. (C) 2017 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.European CommissionEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre [ENERGY.2013.2.9.1, 608466]The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive criticisms and valuable comments, which have been very useful in improving the quality of the paper. The presented work was developed within the framework of project "REELCOOP Research Cooperation in Renewable Energy Technologies for Electricity Generation", co-funded by the European Commission (FP7 ENERGY.2013.2.9.1, Grant agreement no: 608466)

State-of-the-art and SWOT analysis of building integrated solar envelope systems:deliverables A.1 and A.2

The present document includes a state-of-the-art review of solar envelope systems that are already on the market or that can potentially reach that stage in a short-medium timeframe. The analysis focuses on the technological integration of such solutions in the envelope and building, but non-technical issues such as aesthetic, architectural integration and customer acceptance are also tackled. The solar envelope systems are classified in: Solar harvesting systems: systems that generate electricity or heat; Solar gains control systems, controlling; Hybrid systems: combination of solar harvesting and solar gains control systems