Semi-transparent PV panels

Oct 17, 2021 Last reply: 4 years ago 8 Replies
R

I have a south-facing patio at the back of my house, and currently use a large umbrella to give shade. There's no obvious way to attach an awning to the house (and I'm not looking at that as a solution). The garden is narrow, but very long.



Plan A was to construct an essentially outdoors area pergola style and climbing plants, but predict this would not be as rainproof as we'd like (getting fed up with cushions on garden furniture getting wet and so on), so SWMBO suggested a very slightly sloping polycarbonate roof with perhaps a 'cloud pattern" painted on the inside.



But what if there was some sheeting available that combined PV panel with 'roofing'? Then we could generate some electricity (for local storage and deployment for garden lighting etc, not connected back into the mains) as well as keep the rain out. Does such stuff exist, in practice?


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B

I would have thought that if it were semi transparent then most of the light would be wasted.

I guess you could leave some areas without the cells, so you still get some light through,be but whether the effort would be worth the cost is very debatable unless this property is much father south than the UK. Brian

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G

When I see a question like this, to which I have no inkling of an answer, I select a few key words and google.

"transparent photovoltaic glass" does produce some hits, but it doesn't seem to be mainstream yet.

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T

This is 'solar glass'. It seems like it's in early-adopter mode at the moment:

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but for what is available you might not like the price:
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(and it looks similar for various other technologies like PV panels on polycarbonate)

Just a thought, but could you do an awning/pergola with alternate PV and non PV panels? That would let some light through, at the same time generating probably about the same amount of PV as the low-efficiency thin film PV panels would.

Theo

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R

In message <skglsu$912$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 09:12:14 on Sun, 17 Oct

2021, "Brian Gaff (Sofa)" snipped-for-privacy@blueyonder.co.uk> remarked:

Light perceived by the eye is logarithmic, so something soaking up 75% would look almost as bright.

And I'm not sure what it is about the physics of a PV panel that means the photons are in some sense absorbed, rather than triggering as they go past.

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R

In message <skgt0n$j7j$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 11:13:43 on Sun, 17 Oct

2021, GB snipped-for-privacy@microsoft.com remarked:

Done that already.

I'm asking if it's available yet, and if so, from whom. Or god forbid, anyone here have any practical experience??

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R

In message <aPf* snipped-for-privacy@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, at 11:14:52 on Sun,

17 Oct 2021, Theo <theom+ snipped-for-privacy@chiark.greenend.org.uk> remarked:

I thought that was the stuff you stuck in conservatory roofs to stop them becoming insufferably-hot_houses.

£250 per square meter, and the grey tinted panel is able to produce efficiency levels of 12% to 15%

My gas meter is square, does that help?

When they say 12%, do they mean compared to a regular PV panel?

Alternating panels is another possibility. But unless prefabricated, it sounds like a faff to install. Maybe tiled somehow, 10-15cm alternating squares.

Overall I think I'd be needing about 6sqm, so £250 isn't way out of budget.

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T

To generate power, the photons will have to give up energy. They can do this by being absorbed, so losing all thewir energy, or by giving up some fraction. In the latter case, it changes wavelength, that is, colour.

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R

I don't mind if the colour changes a bit.

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