Pv Building Integration, Successful Pilot Of Giant Solar Curtain Wall in Germany

The Gronau company in the Münsterland region of western Germany is installing a giant glass façade photovoltaic curtain wall in its new administration building, covering an area of 222 square metres.

This giant photovoltaic façade is a relatively operationally challenging and groundbreaking project for the German commercial and industrial energy storage industry, which not only had to have the utility of a photovoltaic panel, but also ensure that it could act like glass and allow light to enter the building from the outside without causing a feeling of closure inside.

ASCA supplied the BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) modules, which were then integrated into the façade glazing by BGTBischoffGlastechnik. The latter supplied the transparent glass modules, which, after a special printing process by ASCA, can have the effect of solar energy harvesting by photovoltaic panels.

The production of BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) modules is no more complex than the manufacture of ordinary laminated glass," says Hermann Issa, ASCA's Head of Business Development and Project Management. This will be a milestone project for BIPV." The 222 square metre glass façade of the Gronau administration building is understood to provide an output of almost 10KW.