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An Italian startup has created a fully recyclable sticker that can be used to cover solar panels on rooftops or facades. It reproduces high-definition images that can help improve the aesthetics of solar panels or turn photovoltaic facades into billboards.
The Italian startup Sunspeker has developed a customizable and fully recyclable sticker to wrap photovoltaic panels.
The company just secured 115,000 euros ($120,950) of financing from Italys state-owned investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to bring its new technology to market.
Our new product aims to create an “all-in-one” digital display powered by photovoltaic energy”, explains Fabrizio Chiara to pv magazine . “Every solar panel is potentially a Sunspeker-stickered ad space.”
The company claims that the stickers can reproduce high-definition images while remaining pervious to light. This ensures that the modules retain between 80% and 90% of their efficiency.
“The loss of energy yield can be offset by the gains derived from advertising campaigns”, says Chiara. “Ads of this type can also sell for a higher price given the sustainability of billboards.”
Images processed using Sunspekers proprietary process reportedly maintain a high transparency rate.
“However, for reasons of aesthetic impact, in some cases energy efficiency is reduced to 80% so that the solar panel is more integrated into the environment”, explains Chiara. “We are currently working to create a standard set of conditions that will allow us to scale with a few different aesthetic solutions to cover most cases.”
The adhesive film for aesthetic covers is a thermoplastic developed for exterior applications. The company claims that in the R&D process it focused on sustainability. He sought a solution that was fully recyclable, in line with the principles of the circular economy.
The sunscreen technology is still in the development phase and has a “technology readiness level level six” (TRL 6). The TRL measures the maturity of the technological components of a system and is based on a scale of one to nine, with nine representing the most mature technologies for full commercial application.
The company manufactured the final product and is now ready to market it in Canavese, near Turin (northern Italy). He hopes to raise another 450,000 euros through new funding rounds. It states that it is currently launching the first pilot projects.
“In the Veneto region, at the end of November, we installed the first “tile” textured solar roof residential pilot project in collaboration with Energy Saving, a Treviso-based energy company that believed in Sunspeker’s mission and technology. Chiara said. |
