New BMBF Research Project on Transparent Organic Photovoltaic Glass Facades Started

In July 2015, the international research project “Transparent organic photovoltaic glass facade (TOP)” started. The project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), is part of the promotional initiative “Organic electronics – technology base and application scenarios.” The objective is to prove the utilization and marketability of transparent OPV technology in the area of building glass façades on an exemplary application.
 
The consortium consists of AGC Glass, CreaPhys GmbH, Fraunhofer FEP, Fraunhofer ISE, Heliatek GmbH, Lindner Fassaden GmbH and the University of Ulm.
 
The TOP project addresses the central topic of the smart energy supply in Germany and Europe. In Europe, approximately 20 million square meters on glass surfaces are installed every year on building façades (e.g. office buildings). These surfaces offer the possibility to generate renewable energy, without a need of additional surfaces or installation space.
 
Today these surfaces are not or only with limited access usable for the conventional photovoltaic technology. The dimensionable transparent solar films from Heliatek, which can easily be integrated in glass and can be manufactured transparent, solve this issue.
 
A big variety of applications can be realized with the non-transparent solar films, the so-called opaque version of the organic solar film. With transparent solar film, the range of applications can be extended significantly, for example in the areas of skylight, windows, balustrades, UV protection glass and transparent facades in general.
 
The first application system in this project aims a transmittance of 15% to 30 % at an efficiency of 8% to 10%. Within the project, the University of Ulm and Heliatek perform research on the absorber system. CreaPhys cleans the materials and develops methods for monitoring during the whole production process. Together with Heliatek, Fraunhofer FEP explores the production processes for the transparent top contact system and a pre-encapsulation system.
 
The newly developed and produced films by Heliatek will be integrated into a glass product by AGC Glass Europe and then delivered to Lindner Group. Lindner will install these glasses into a facade demonstrator, and Fraunhofer ISE will identify and analyze the long-term stability of the produced films and active glasses.