Asia's largest building integrates organic PV installation

15 Sep 2015

First installation phase of HeliaFilm successfully completed on Seletar Walkway at Singapore Airport.

The first phase of Heliatek's pilot PV project in Singapore has been successfully completed. Now 30m² of Heliafilm with an average cell efficiency of 7% have been installed within a few hours on the Seletar walkway at the Asian nation's airport.

According to the Dresden, Germany-based developer of the OPV solar film, "HeliaFilm has been fitted perfectly onto the walkway roof despite its uneven-shaped aluminum structure. The PV HeliaFilm is the core part of a larger project, which is providing a test-bed for new sustainable, urban-fit technologies for Singapore."

The project is being carried out by vTrium, Heliatek's exclusive partner in Singapore. In the wider project, the HeliaFilm will be installed on various other buildings in Jurong Town Corporation's Cleantech Park on steel and glass using various versions of transparencies and colours.

The project is funded and supported by Jurong Town Corporation (JTC, Singapore) and SPRING (Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board, Singapore). The independent monitoring of this pilot will be performed by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). The findings from this project will help form the basis for the future energy mix for Singapore, say the partners.

About Heliatek

Heliatek was spun off in 2006 from the Technical University of Dresden and the University of Ulm. The company claims to have achieved the world record conversion efficiency of 12%. Through both its materials development and volume manufacturing of its PV film, 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.

About the Author

Matthew Peach is a contributing editor to optics.org.