Future Trends in the Photovoltaic Industry

Today more than ever, the growth of the photovoltaic sector is primarily due to the maturation of the technology of its core components (modules, inverters, storage) and the strong production capacity of the modules themselves.

The integration of solar panels on roofs, facades, or as design elements provides a unique opportunity to revitalize historic buildings and enhance their energy efficiency.

In more modern contexts, the careful integration of these solar systems often enriches the architectural concept, adding an additional dimension of sustainability to the buildings.

 

The importance of solar aesthetics goes beyond mere energy production.

The visual incorporation of solar technology into architecture conveys a powerful message, emphasizing:

> Sustainability,

> Innovation,

> Respect for historical heritage.

This concept of viewing solar energy as an integral part of urban architecture aligns with a broader approach to sustainable building and restoration.

"Sustainability in construction implies the judicious use of resources, with minimal environmental impact and improved quality of life for residents."

This goal is achieved through the use of eco-friendly materials, highly efficient energy technologies, and careful planning of building integration to preserve the historical and cultural integrity of urban spaces while meeting the needs of modern, energy-efficient housing and workplaces.

Cutting-edge solar roofs.

A successful example is the use of design photovoltaics by companies like Tesla.

The "Tesla Solar Roof" is a product that integrates solar cells into traditional roofing materials, offering a more aesthetically pleasing and harmonious way to generate solar energy compared to traditional solar panels.

The Solar Roof tiles are designed to resemble conventional roofing materials like slate or terracotta tiles while harnessing solar energy to generate electricity for your home.

 

Photovoltaic facades and beyond.

Photovoltaic facades are an innovative architectural solution that combines aesthetics and functionality.

These facades integrate solar panels directly into the building's structure, allowing the use of solar energy to generate electricity without compromising the building's aesthetic appearance.

They can be made with a variety of materials to meet the specific aesthetic and functional needs of an architectural project, offering a sustainable solution to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.

In addition to generating clean energy, design photovoltaic facades can also help improve a building's thermal insulation and provide shading and protection from weather elements.

These features make them an interesting choice for sustainability and urban design projects oriented toward the future.

An example is the Copenhagen International School in Denmark, where the perimeter walls have been covered with 12,000 colored solar tiles, making it one of the largest building-integrated photovoltaic installations in the world.

LSCs (Luminescent Solar Concentrators)

Luminescent Solar Concentrators are ultra-thin sheets of mostly transparent plastic material containing special molecules.

They have the ability to capture sunlight, modify its wavelength, and re-emit it within the plastic sheet, thanks to their fluorescence property.

This new panel is created using a technique similar to screen printing, in which photovoltaic cells are "printed-embedded" directly onto the surface of application, in this case, glass.

The system, achievable with various technologies, sizes, thicknesses, degrees of transparency, colors, and with only a 10% economic increase, allows for the creation of colored surfaces of every type that, thanks to an architecturally efficient energy integration, meet both the aesthetic needs of architects and the demands of builders; moreover, they also provide a flexible solution for the production of solar energy even for buildings that could not enjoy it, either due to poor exposure (like north-facing facades) or non-optimal roof inclinations.

 

3D Photovoltaics

"3D photovoltaics" refers to a technology that leverages three-dimensionality to increase the efficiency and energy generation capacity of solar energy.

Instead of just flat solar panels mounted on rooftops or horizontal surfaces, 3D photovoltaics involves the use of three-dimensional structures to capture more sunlight and generate more energy.

These structures can take various forms and designs, such as towers, pillars, umbrellas, or even solar trees.

The goal is to maximize the area exposed to the sun and increase energy production compared to traditional flat solar panels.

3D photovoltaics can be used in both large-scale applications, such as solar power plants, and in urban and architectural contexts, contributing to the sustainability of energy and the integration of solar energy into the built environment in a creative and innovative way.

This technology represents an interesting opportunity to improve the efficiency and use of renewable energies.

Cars & Photovoltaics

Some models of cars with solar panels are designed mainly to recharge auxiliary batteries and reduce the load on the vehicle's main battery, thus enhancing overall energy efficiency.

Other models may be equipped with larger and more powerful solar panels, capable of significantly contributing to the propulsion of the car.

Examples of cars with solar panels include the Toyota Prius Prime and the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, both equipped with rooftop solar panels to recharge auxiliary batteries and enhance energy efficiency.

As this technology continues to evolve, we may see greater integration of solar panels in future cars to reduce environmental impact and increase energy independence.

Not coincidentally, the role of photovoltaics is becoming increasingly central. Just consider Europe's goal to increase photovoltaic production capacity to 320 GW by 2025 and to exceed 600 GW by 2030.

 

Within the next 5 to 10 years, renewable energy will become the main component of all electric power production sources.

For this reason, ensuring the security, reliability, and favorable cost-benefit ratio of energy assets will become a priority.

 

Over 90% of photovoltaic systems will be digitalized.

Despite the rapid growth of the photovoltaic market, many outdated devices still make up photovoltaic systems, particularly those installed before 2016 that cannot be effectively monitored or report malfunctions.

With the rapid development of digital technologies such as 5G and cloud computing, it is predicted that 90% of photovoltaic installations will be fully digitalized by 2025, making their management simple, smart, and efficient.

In this regard, one of the tools equipped in the latest generation inverters is intelligent IV curve analysis, a powerful tool that allows real-time string monitoring across all installations.

Over 80% of photovoltaic systems will be automated.

With the spread of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent products and services will make the entire photovoltaic solution more advantageous. With the advent of continuous learning algorithms, AI will be widely used to replace O&M experts in many diagnostic and decision-making functions.

Inspections using drones equipped with thermal cameras and/or intelligent robots (for example, for cleaning) will manage labor-intensive and repetitive O&M tasks that require a high and continuous degree of precision for greater productivity and safety in photovoltaic plants.

It is anticipated that photovoltaic systems will be fully automated in the future as they transition from network adaptation to network support.

The increasing level of energy penetration with electronic interfaces will weaken the electrical grid's power, hindering broader use of photovoltaic systems.

To this end, the latest generation inverters already have the capability to not feed surplus energy that cannot be self-consumed into the grid. Major players are working to enable inverters to control harmonic current within 1%, continuously switch between high and low voltage, and quickly adjust frequency, necessary for grid connection.

The percentage of photovoltaic (PV) installations associated with energy storage will exceed 30% by 2025.

With greater penetration of new energy sources, electric grids will have increasingly stringent requirements for frequency regulation and peak shaving (a process where energy is stored when demand is low and released when electrical demand is high).

Meanwhile, battery costs are decreasing with technological advancements. It is expected that energy storage will function alongside photovoltaic systems and become an integral conceptual element in all future installations.

 

Over 80% of residential systems will connect with Virtual Power Plant (VPP) networks.

In the next 5 years, ICT technologies such as 5G, blockchain, and cloud services will be widely applied in distributed power plants to form VPPs for collaborative management, participating in planning, transactions, and ancillary services for power systems.

The development of VPP technology will inspire new business models and attract new market players to distributed photovoltaic scenarios, serving as a growth engine for distributed photovoltaics.

 

Greater power density.

The trend of a lower Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE) demands higher requirements with greater power per single module and easy maintenance of the inverter.

To achieve this goal, a higher power density is required.

With significant discoveries in the research of wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as SiC and GaN, and advanced control algorithms, the power density of inverters is expected to increase by over 50% in the next 5 years.

 

Sustainability in the agricultural sector.

The trend in the coming years will be to make agricultural activities sustainable.

The combination of "land – crops – land use – European funding" will enable significant development in the agricultural sector.

Technologically, major photovoltaic module producers are increasingly focusing on developing large-sized bifacial modules, considering that a latest-generation module develops 700 watts over an area exceeding 2.5 sqm.

 

Electric mobility paired with photovoltaic installations.

The trend in the coming years will be to make charging hubs powered by both public and private photovoltaic installations increasingly accessible.

Parking canopies will be increasingly architecturally integrated with photovoltaic modules connected to the electrical grid and at the same time allow for parallel self-consumption at the moment the charging point is used.

 

Development of Energy Communities (CER).

The new regulation will allow the development of CERs from many perspectives, mainly concerning communities of individual citizens and/or industries.

The great opportunity introduced by the Energy Communities regulation involves remote consumption as long as it is within the same municipality and the same "Primary Cabin" (known as territorial infrastructure).

In conclusion, the evolution in the photovoltaic sector serves as a significant catalyst for transforming the environment towards greater sustainability and energy efficiency.

With a sustained commitment to the research and development of innovative photovoltaic technologies, the future of this sector appears promising, with the potential to radically transform the way we conceive and construct the spaces in which we live and work, fostering a more sustainable and greener future for the generations to come.

This insight is provided by the C.E.O. of Inveco Group, Dr. Filippo Barbetti, and Engineer Giuseppe Gallo of the technical office at INVECO GROUP.