Konarka Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of solar PV products, announced the largest OPV installation of its kind and the first OPV semi-transparent BIPV curtain wall. Konarka“s Power Plastic is ma…
Konarka Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of solar PV products, announced the largest OPV installation of its kind and the first OPV semi-transparent BIPV curtain wall. Konarka“s Power Plastic is made with semi-transparent material and can be laminated inexpensively onto glass to easily integrate it into building walls, according to a company executive. They claimed that organic PV is much less energy intensive to manufacture compared with crystalline silicon. The transparent photovoltaic film is intended for glass curtain walls because of its low light sensitivity, thermal performance, light weight and performance over a wide range of sunlight angles of incidence.” In the Konarka“s New Bedford facility, Power Plastic is installed in both south and east facing walls. Being able to integrate solar panels into multiple walls delivers greater electrical output. Typical solar installations occur on rooftops, although there is generally far more area to accommodate PV system integration in building walls, especially in multi-story buildings. Konarka“s solar panels are claimed to offer solutions for a variety of large and small-scale applications, including curtain walls, components within windows and other building integrated (BIPV) and building applied (BAPV) categories. Solar panels are available in a variety of colors and degrees of optical transmissivity. Konarka is exhibiting at Intersolar Europe 2011, Wednesday, June 8 Friday, 10 June 2011 at the New Trade Fair Centre in Munich, Germany, booth #A2.151.