Lighter, more flexible and adaptable – the innovation platform Solar TAP develops innovative solutions for photovoltaic applications. The aim is to make surfaces already used in agriculture, the building sector and transport additionally usable for the expansion of solar energy with printed solar cells.
Renewable energies are essential for the success of the energy transition and the desired independence from the import of fossil fuels. Their expansion must therefore be driven forward swiftly and massively. Photovoltaics (PV) – energy from the sun – is an important pillar in this respect. Of all renewable energies, PV has the lowest environmental footprint, i.e. it generates significantly more energy than is needed for its production.
Even though we need to add around 330 Gigawatt in Germany by 2040, this expansion does not automatically mean building new large-scale solar parks: thanks to flexible and efficient PV systems that utilize surfaces in agriculture or in the building sector to generate additional electricity from the sun. The potential for this is great: agricultural land in Germany offers the technical possibility to contribute up to 3 Terawatt (short for terawatt peak) to electricity generation. Solar cells integrated into existing facades could generate up to 1 Terawatt of solar power – for example, to supply electric cars with decentralized and mobile electricity in the future. But so far, just less than 0.1 percent of facade surfaces are used for PV.