Helmholtz Center in Berlin tests build-in photovoltaic system

"For the first time, a complete building with a façade-integrated photovoltaic system is being operated as a real-life laboratory," says Björn Rau, head of the Advisory Office for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB). A total of 360 CIGS thin-film modules cover large areas of the north, west and south facades of a new building that HZB has constructed in Adlershof, Berlin. The entire system is expected to have an output of 50 kilowatts.

However, the solar module façade will not only be used to generate electricity but also for long-term studies of the influence of various environmental factors such as pollution, fine dust, rain, and orientation on photovoltaic performance. Extensive measurement technology provides new insights into the real behaviour of façade-integrated solar modules under different weather conditions.

To this end, the facility was equipped with special sensor technology, including 72 temperature sensors as well as four wind and ten irradiation sensors. However, the building is not used for research on photovoltaics; instead, HZB researchers will develop components for accelerator physics here in the future.

Sources: pv-magazine, article by Ralph Diermann from 09/07/21 on https://www.pv-magazine.de/2021/09/07/helmholtz-zentrum-berlin-nimmt-photovoltaik-fassaden-in-betrieb/  (last access on 09/13/2021 at 11:50 a.m.)

Website of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, article from 09/24/2020: https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/pubbin/news_seite?nid=22102;sprache=de;seitenid=384 (last access on 09/13/2021 at 12:10 p.m.)