the beginning of Renewable energy It continues without stopping. With the rise of new technologies such as wave power, already integrated technologies are being perfected and their efficiencies improved. For wind energy, one of the latest advances is to combine it with solar energy. This approach wind turbine A tower with photovoltaic panels that can generate electricity to feed the turbine’s internal systems. Often, when a wind turbine is left idle due to lack of wind power, some control system must be kept running. Normally they would be connected to the power grid to supply their needs, but now solar panels have taken over that role. The pilot test was carried out at one of ACCIONA’s wind turbines, the Breña Wind Farm (Albacete).
The setup has 120 solar panels occupying a tower height of 50 meters with a maximum output of 9.36 kilowatts. The panels are integrated in a south-east-southwest orientation to optimize solar energy capture. The integration of PV solar panels is not the only innovative aspect of the project, but the selection of a new generation of organic solar panels. At just 1mm thick, using carbon as a raw material, it offers great structural flexibility, light weight and is fully recyclable. Also, maintenance costs are lower. So far its performance is inferior to silicon-based models, but as project promoters point out, this new type of panel has great potential.
“The Bregna hybridization project includes optimizing the use of space for renewable energy production and will allow us to test the efficiency of organic photovoltaics. It’s considered one of the technologies with the highest improvement curve, test it out,” said Belén Linares, Director of Energy Innovations at ACCIONA.
home organic solar panels
While they won’t replace silicon solar panels in industrial applications, for now organic panels may have interesting domestic applications, especially for IoT technology. An example of this is the recent announcement by the French Commission for Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy. A French institution has published results of a study conducted jointly with the Japanese company Toyoba, an organic panel with a conversion rate of 25% in a dark room with neon lighting of 220 lux. 60% higher than the efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells commonly used in solar cells.
A Japanese company has developed a soluble material that can generate energy through organic synthesis techniques. Therefore, it dissolves very easily and can be applied evenly to the substrate. These new solar cells can work where traditional cells cannot, independent of the power grid to power household devices in poorly lit rooms.
sauce: Acciona, PV Magazine
