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Solar around the world
Plastic shapes the new era of solar energy
Writer: H M Remi
Plastic seems to be the synonym of evil to Nature because this artificial material does not decompose. On the contrary, nowadays, we can draw an equal sign between renewable energy and saviour to the Earth. However, the researchers in Europe may have already changed the game's rules through solar energy technologies.
Traditionally, solar panels are mostly made of crystalline silicon cells with glasses and metals. This design allows the solar panels to work across extreme temperature, humidity, wind and UV radiation. The downside is that they are heavy and take up a lot of space for installation.
The heaviness and rigidity of solar panels become obstacles for those who want to maximise their green power to save the world. For example, a study shows that in the Netherlands, only 12% of business premises have enough roof areas (i.e. at least 1000 square metres) to install solar panels. They may not have strong enough roofs to support the weight of the panels even they have enough space.
Solarge, a start-up run by Dutch plastic experts, has found a way to produce lightweight solar panels. They developed a new kind of plastic as transparent and sturdy as glass to take over the glass in solar panels. The plastic solar panels are 50% lighter than the traditional ones. It means that people can install more solar panels within the same size of roof areas without worrying that their roof structure is not solid enough. Solarge claims that these panels can emit 80% less CO2 while the entire manufacturing process will be easier, thus cheaper.
At the same time, researchers are advancing the photovoltaic cells in Italy, Germany, and France. They name it the organic photovoltaic, or OPV. We have been making standard solar panels with silicon solar cells. But OPV are composed of carbon-containing molecules, which can be seen as plastic solar cells. The plastic solar cells are much thinner, lighter and more flexible, which can be printed or coated onto a thin film to apply the plastic solar panels onto curves. The semi-transparent OPV can also fit inside windowpanes, which means that windows can filter out sunlight and turn it into electricity in the future.
In this case, plastic is not pure evil if we can further improve the technologies and find the balance between human activities and the preservation of Nature.
https://innovationorigins.com/en/why-glass-is-so-difficult-to-imitate-for-solar-panels/
https://www.cleanenergyreviews.info/blog/solar-panel-components-construction
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