Energy lab says flat solar panels may be option
by Eric Mortenson – The Oregonian – June 12, 2009
Flat solar panels could fit on roofs like shingles. A transparent thin film barrier used to protect flat panel TVs from moisture could become the basis for flexible solar panels that would be installed on roofs like shingles.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., are working on flexible rooftop solar panels.
The panels — called building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPVs — could replace boxy solar panels that are made with rigid glass or silicon and mounted on thick metal frames. The flexible solar shingles would be less expensive to install than current panels, and made to last 25 years.
“There’s a lot of wasted space on rooftops that could actually be used to generate power,” senior scientist Mark Gross said in a news release. “Flexible solar panels could easily become integrated into the architecture of commercial buildings and homes. Solar panels have had limited success because they’ve been difficult and expensive to install.”
Researchers at PNNL will create these flexible panels by adapting a film encapsulation process currently used to coat flat panel displays that use organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. The work is made possible by a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement recently penned between Vitex Systems and Battelle, which operates PNNL for the federal government.
Laboratory researchers developed the thin film technology in the 1990s. At the time, the lab’s team investigated 15 possible applications, including solar power. Vitex licensed the technology from Battelle in 2000 and focused its initial efforts on developing the ultra-barrier films for flat-panel displays. Now PNNL and Vitex are taking a hard second look at solar power.
