Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The Swiss startup Insolight will soon begin producing and selling its high-efficiency solar panels as well as the technology behind it. Earlier, the young company from Lausanne completed a CHF 5 million fundraising round mainly from Swiss investors and received a large European Union grant.
Insolight’s honeycomb glass collector concentrates sunlight on regular silicon solar cells (© Insolight).
Disruptive approach
The photovoltaic modules developed by Insolight, based at the Innovation Park of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), represent a novel approach to solar power generation. Its disruptive technology is based on planar optical micro-tracking. It concentrates sunlight on multi-junction solar cells by sitting on top of a conventional silicon backplane, integrated within a static frame.
The system employs a series of lenses embedded within a thin layer of glass. The lenses move a few millimeters throughout the day to track the sun’s movement across the sky and keep the cells aligned with the light rays. This solution produces up to 50 percent more energy than conventional silicon modules with the same form-factor when the layer with the lenses is placed on top of a conventional silicon backplane. Insolight tested the system in a one-year pilot trial on roofs of the EPFL.
Targeting agriculture
These innovative, translucent photovoltaic modules can also be used as standalone power plants, making it a very versatile system. Insolight is planning to team up with major solar energy suppliers to target the agricultural sector because the panels can be installed in fields, on greenhouses, and green roofs.
Users will be able to switch between two modes. In the electricity generation mode, the lenses concentrate light on the high-efficiency solar cells. In the maximum light transmission mode, all incoming light passes through the panel to reach the crops below.
“The agrivoltaics market may be relatively new, but it’s already worth an estimated CHF 700 million, with a total installed capacity of 5 Gigawatt peak,” says Insolight CEO Laurent Coulot. In tests at Tecnova Foundation, an agricultural technology center in Spain, the system increased crop biomass by 20 percent by creating a micro-climate, protecting plants from extreme weather conditions, and modulating direct sunlight.
Switzerland leads the EU effort
Earlier, the European Union had granted the Hiperion photovoltaic consortium a four-year CHF 10 million grant. The 16 partners from ten European countries represent the complete photovoltaic value chain and production line. Insolight is the technological leader for product & IP development of this consortium.
The Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), which also coordinates Hiperion, will host the pilot manufacturing line. CSEM has global expertise in various fabrication processes for photovoltaic modules. The expertise reaches from cell to module technology, including thin films, silicon PV, perovskite, and heterojunction.
Text: SCCIJ partly with material of © EPFL/Cécilia Carron
