Colored solar panels have always been attractive. Using normal solar panels covering large spaces with their black or blue colors is less than ideal by the homeowners, designers, and architects Use of PV panels as building materials are also limited due to concerns over not only the color but also their size, shape, and texture. Building Integrated Photovoltaic panels are solar panels that are customized and adapted to the standards to be treated as a building material. but they are still mostly black or blue, hence Boring!!!
However, the evolution of BIPV does not end there as colored BIPVs are available ranging from anthracite black to grey, blue, green, yellow, and even golden and some other colors. There are multiple types of colored BIPV . which can be great for architects, designers, and stylish homeowners.
Contrary to our previous beliefs that colored BIPV’s energy output is much lower than conventional modules, this is not the case any longer. According to a new study colored solar panels aren’t that different compared to normal reference modules in energy output anymore. The researchers claim that “So the small losses due to the extra layer of textured glass are offset by the gain of capturing a bit more yield during low angles of incidence.” These results have been confirmed by some research institutes such as the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI).
The current BIPVs in the market have less efficiency compared to normal modules by 10% to 40% and they are strongly dependent on the color of the module because each color is characterized by a specific reflection spectrum, according to Roland Valckenborg, the manager of the project. He also said that colored BIPV might be more expensive than traditional PVs “Because if something fails then the costs of repair can be huge,”. He also stated that “People want to have a choice between different models, just as with cars”.
Colored solar panels are fabricated with different approaches. Here we have listed some of them.
- Type 1:
The first type of the colored BIPV is a special glass front that has nano-sized layer structures inside it that does not decrease energy output by much and it can achieve. - Type 2:
The second type is ceramic printing that has the potential to print lots of things on the module and can be almost invisible to an onlooker. This type of module owing to the almost complete invisibility of the solar cells, be used in high-powered crystalline modules that have high aesthetic value and high power. - Type 3:
Third type creates colored BIPV with the use of colored foils. This technology isn’t costly and can be used to make almost all of the colors as well. They were even able to produce white solar modules in the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology. - Type 4:
Fourth type uses shading elements that incorporate shielding and energy production by using a very thin glass or a thin film. There is a semi-transparent type as well that uses crystalline silicon cells that are arranged in a certain pattern.
These were some of the different types of colored BIPV and they seem to be able to produce as much as conventional modules, but also at the same time making them more aesthetically pleasing and more attractive to architects.
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Source: @ pv-magazine @Solar_Edition
Photo: @Solar_Edition
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