Future looks sunny for Solarge
Ever since Scheuten Solar and Solland Solar went bankrupt, people have been convinced that manufacturing solar panels in the Netherlands is not possible. Chinese panels are just too cheap. However, start-up company Solarge takes a fresh turn: ‘With our lightweight, sustainable panels, we open up entirely new markets,’ CTO Gerard de Leede is convinced.
The origin of the young company is not standard. Where many of the current-day high tech starting businesses arise from academic research that tries to find a way to the market, here three market parties joined forces, De Leede explains. ‘Solarge arose from a collaboration between Heijmans, SABIC and Solliance. The idea was to develop solar panels based on plastic composites instead of glass. In 2017 the first insights arose that this should be feasible. And now we are on the verge of opening our first full-fledged production facility in Weert.’ The opening is planned in the first quarter of 2023.
New applications
The innovative aspect of Solarge’s solar panels is that they do not contain the heavy and emission-intensive glass plates conventional panels are based on. ‘We are agnostic for the solar cell technology itself,’ De Leede explains. ‘The PV cells we are using are just off the shelf cells, which are used for conventional panels as well. The difference is how we package them. We do not use heavy glass panes nor aluminium frames.’ Instead, the glass is replaced by glass fibres and a layer of polymer-composite. This reduces the weight of the panels with some fifty percent. And that has major advantages, De Leede lectures. ‘What others have overlooked, is that in the Netherlands, some sixty percent of the roofs is not suited for current solar technology, since the panels are too heavy. With our lightweight alternatives we open up entirely new markets for solar. Think for example of applications on barn roofs, or on the sides of trailers or buses.’
However advantageous, the weight reduction is not all, De Leede sums up. ‘A second major added value of our technology, which becomes increasingly important, is that it drastically reduces the carbon footprint of solar energy.’ Current conventional panels take three to four years to make up for the carbon emitted during their production. With Solarge’s panels, this is reduced to three to four months. ‘Another problem we tackle is that with the enormous increase in installed solar power, we are also facing a growing problem regarding the waste when the panels are at the end of their life. Our panels are made in a circular way, all of the components can be reused. And finally, the back sheet foil in current panels contains PFAS. Our panels are entirely PFAS-free.’
All in all, De Leede is convinced that with their unique product, Solarge has a good chance of becoming successful. ‘Besides all of the merits of our product, the reasons why we think that now is the time to bring back solar manufacturing to the Netherlands also have to do with the current geopolitical developments. When it comes to energy, we are way too dependent on a handful of countries, which are – to put it mildly – not the friendliest. Europe should regain power, and make sure that sustainable energy production is in our own hands.’
Research required
Though the manufacturing facility will be opened soon, the research phase is far from over, De Leede says. ‘We need research in different areas. First, we need to develop a high volume production line with high efficiency. That means we need smart industry processes that enable us to produce our panels in large quantities at high and reproducible quality. Second, since our product is so new, there is a lot of work to do when it comes to developing new ranges of applications, for example in the building-integrated or vehicle-integrated domains. We can play around with the size of the panels, and even develop panels that are big enough to individually cover the entire roof. Hence also our name, Solarge.’
When it comes to research, Solarge is currently collaborating with EIRES-researchers in the NEON-project. ‘There we have a PhD working on life cycle analysis. We want to know what carbon footprints we have to take into account further along in the supply chain and how we can reduce them even further. For example, we are already working partly with biobased plastics, which even have negative emissions. What if we combine that technology with the next generation of solar cells based on perovskite tandem technology? And how should we modify our composites to accommodate that in an optimal way?’
Seize opportunity
This is a promising and growing market, De Leede is convinced. ‘The Dutch solar sector shouldn’t miss out on this opportunity to add value, as we did with wind energy. We need strategic and tactical research lines that can land in Dutch companies to make sure the technology will actually be implemented. We need to reshore PV to Europe. And with the knowledge we have in the Netherlands, we can be front runners in this field.’
