Europe’s first solar concrete wall was inaugurated in late May at Reckli’s headquarter in Herne, Germany. The facade, designed by Reckli to fit the solar film from Heliatek (HeliaFilm), represents a novel approach to BIOPV – Building Integrated Organic PV. Reckli, the world leader in the design and manufacture of elastomeric formliners, and Heliatek are demonstrating the next step towards a sustainable, net-zero energy building. This solar active concrete wall is the result of a joint development project of Reckli and Heliatek. With an installed power of 1kWp, the south-west oriented wall will supply around 500 kWh of electricity per year. The energy produced will be used directly by Reckli.
Reckli and Heliatek have been working together for three years on smart facade solutions, which combine various concrete structures and HeliaFilm. By using different colors, concrete facades can be aesthetically enhanced and simultaneously supply energy to meet urban power requirements. europe’s Building integrated organic photovoltaic (BIOPV) is able to make an important contribution to the urban power needs. The carbon footprint in large cities can be significantly improved. One major advantage of using HeliaFilm is that there is no need for ventilation or cooling systems in order to operate effectively.
Additional pilot projects of Reckli and Heliatek are in the pipeline for 2016. Market entry is planned for the second half of 2017.
Heliatek was spun off in 2006 from the Technical University of Dresden and the University of Ulm. The company is a leader in the field of Organic Electronics Energy holding the world record efficiency of 12 percent. Through both its leading-edge material development and its proven capability for volume manufacturing Heliatek is the first company to begin commercialization of large area OPV solar film. Its business model is to supply the custom-designed HeliaFilm to partners in industries such as building and construction materials, automotive and light architectural structures.
Heliatek maintains a total staff of some 75 specialists at its facilities in Dresden and Ulm, Germany. Investors in Heliatek include leading industrial and financial companies such as BASF, Bosch, Innogy Venture Capital, Wellington Partners, eCapital and Aqton SE. Research and development work, as well as the installation of production technology has been funded by the Free State of Saxony, the Federal Republic of Germany (BMBF-Projekt LOTsE (03EK3505E)) and the European Union.
