Market Readiness of Organic Photovoltaics for Building Integration
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Market Readiness of Organic Photovoltaics for Building Integration Bas van der Wiel1, Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf1, Hermann Issa1, Maria Roos2, Norbert Henze2 1
BELECTRIC OPV, Landgrabenstrasse 94, 90443 Nuremberg, Germany Systems Engineering and Distribution Grids, Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology, Königstor 59, 34199 Kassel, Germany 2
ABSTRACT If a photovoltaic (PV) technology is assessed today in a technical framework, then efficiency is the most commonly addressed parameter, followed by service lifetime. Cost, as the third parameter of the "magic triangle", is even less often reported. However, if a new technology is prepared to enter a market, other important parameters have to be considered, especially if nonstandard PV applications are targeted. Organic photovoltaic (OPV) is a well known but young PV technology of the so called third generation, which offers unique advantages for integrated products such as building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). In this contribution we would like to highlight some of the advantages and challenges which are specific to the application of OPV in the field of building integration. Architectural design features of OPV include the ability to adapt semi-transparency, color and shape of the module. Moreover, glass-laminated OPV modules are deemed suitable for BIPV because of their ease of integration, good fire resistance, high energy harvest per nominal watt-peak and long lifetimes. INTRODUCTION There are a number of application areas for photovoltaic (PV) modules: Solar power plants, building applied (BAPV) or integrated (BIPV), flexible products, and consumer electronics. Each application area demands or emphasizes different properties of the PV technology. For solar power plants high module efficiencies, low costs and long operational lifetimes of several decades are key selection criteria. On the other hand, module lifetime is less critical when PV is integrated into consumer electronics as the typical lifetime of e.g. laptops and mobile phones hardly ever exceeds five years. In this particular case, color, design and size are the more important properties, because the PV module needs to blend in with the product. This paper focuses on the market segment of building integrated PV. The sheer endless area of building elements, such as flat or pitched roofs, facades, windows and skylights, renders BIPV a very interesting market [1]. Today there many PV technologies, including crystalline silicon (c-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si) cells, Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) cells and organic photovoltaics (OPV), which can be used for BIPV [2]. The first one excels with high efficiencies [3] and it may seem at first glance to be the most appropriate technology for BIPV. OPV is the youngest technology, based on light-absorbing polymers or small molecules and with modest but quickly improving efficiencies [3]. Efficiency is, however, not the only criterion of market maturity. This paper gives a series of examples to demonstrate how the special properties of OPV can be uti
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