HelioVolt Entering Into Solar Roofing Market
HelioVolt is one of several new solar manufacturers using different materials to produce thin-film solar cells.
The company intends to make solar cells for rooftop panels and later get into building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where cells are embedded into roof shingles, blinds, awnings, or other building components.
HelioVolt just announced this week that they are entering into a partnership with Architectural Glass & Aluminum to produce glass windows capable of generating electricity. However, BIPV has a number of technical challenges, making the days of power-generating windows a few years away.
One technical disadvantage of solar cells being utilized in BIPV is their shorter lifespan in comparison to other building materials, typically 20-25 years. Thin-film cells made from CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide), as HelioVolt is making, corrode more easily in water than traditional silicon cells.
Weather-sealing the CIGS cells will be a challenge, but they provide twice the efficiency of silicon. Also, silicon is being challenged by high demand and dwindling supplies making CIGS a more viable alternative.
“You have to come up with a compromise between power output and long lifetime, and do both with the cost that fits into the application,” says John Langdon, VP of Marketing at HelioVolt. “There are some tradeoffs.”
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