Printed solar cells

Greenhouse-PV

Semitransparent PV Coatings for Greenhouse Application

Project Description

The increasing global population places demands on food production that cannot be met by traditional agriculture and today availability of food for all people in the world is one of the major challenges for humanity. Existing agriculture has some negative consequences, such as deforestation, unsustainable water usage, and contamination of water and soil with pesticides.

One of the promising approaches for effective land usage, and the reduction the water and pesticides consumption is greenhouse-based agriculture. However, extensive use of greenhouses has one major limitation which is higher energy consumption compared to traditional agriculture.

Therefore, the goal of this project is development semi-transparent solar cells that can be integrated into greenhouse constructions and serve as a source of electricity. The project will develop a concept for Net Zero Energy Greenhouses assuring a viable solution for sustainable agriculture and reducing dependency on fossil fuels.

 

Publications

Videos

Introduction to Greenhouse-PV for LOPEC 2024

infinityPV Presenting Greenhouse-PV at LOPEC 2024

 
Grennhouse with PV printed solar cells

About Greenhouse-PV

The increasing global population places demands on food production that cannot be met by traditional agriculture and today availability of food for all people in the world is one of the major challenges for humanity. In addition, existing agriculture and its high intensification have a number of negative consequences, such as deforestation, unsustainable water usage, and contamination of water and soil with pesticides.

One of the promising approaches for effective land usage, and the reduction the water and pesticides consumption is greenhouse-based agriculture. However, extensive use of greenhouses has one major limitation which is higher energy consumption compared to traditional agriculture.

The goal of this project is the development of Net Zero Energy (NZE) Greenhouses assuring a viable solution for sustainable agriculture. In the project, we will develop semi-transparent PV systems for greenhouses that will reduce dependency on fossil fuels by improving sustainability and creating NZE Greenhouses.

Moreover, developed semi-transparent PV coatings together with light management can offer the possibility to reduce the negative effect of the high light intensity on the plants' growth providing positive shading, and at the same time generating electricity for NZE greenhouses.

The light management will be achieved not only by semi-transparent solar cells but also by innovative coatings (wavelength-dependent reflectors) which will re-direct light passages to increase the efficiency of the solar cells and reduce the negative effect of the light on the plants.

To evaluate the effect of light on plants, two scenarios of greenhouse farming will be considered - traditional and vertical. And finally, the popularisation of greenhouse-based agriculture, although it has a lot of advantages, raises concerns about “light pollution” which is defined as excessive or obtrusive light at night. This excessive light is harmful to the health of people living close to a greenhouse (i.e. lack of sleep).

In the project, we will introduce innovative coatings of reflectors that will solve or significantly reduce the issues of “light pollution”. In the project, we will develop semi-transparent solar cells and wavelength-dependent coatings for greenhouse applications which can serve as a solid background for Net Zero Energy Greenhouses, create a positive shading effect for plants, and solve the issue of “light pollution” from greenhouses.

The project will start at TRL 2-3 and will reach TRL 5 by demonstrating large area coating and semi-transparent PV modules, manufacturing a small prototype of a greenhouse, and testing developed coatings in real conditions of plant growth.

 
Gdańsk University of Technology

Gdańsk University of Technology

The Laboratory of Hybrid Photoactive Materials at the Gdańsk University of Technology focuses on the fabrication, optimization and lifetime studies of perovskite solar cells. The group uses electrical and optical characterization techniques to identify the dominant mechanisms responsible for sun power conversion losses in perovskite solar cells. Also, the ISOS protocols are used for lifetime studies in indoor and outdoor conditions.

Contribution to Greenhouse-PV
The group from Gdańsk Tech takes care of electrical and optical modelling and lifetime studies. The purpose of the theoretical simulations conducted by Gdańsk Tech is to help in the optimization of the power conversion efficiency. The electrical modelling should help to improve the recombination losses mostly coming from defects in the absorber layer. However, it helps also in finding the losses in the transporting layers which would be necessary while modifying the band-gap of the absorber material. Also, the optical modelling will also help in the reduction of the parasitic absorption and reflection appearing in the transporting layers. Both of the losses are extremely important while making semi-transparent devices. The lifetime studies are performed in order to check the stability of the devices in different conditions.

 

Contact Information

  • Damian Głowienka, PhD Eng.

  • Email: damian.glowienka@pg.edu.pl

  • Tel. (+48 58) 347-10-69

Address

  • Gdańsk University of Technology

  • Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics

  • Institute of Physics and Applied Computer Science

  • Narutowicza 11/12, Main Building, Room 123

  • URL: https://pg.edu.pl/p/damian-glowienka-723673

Institute of Experimental Botany

Institute of Experimental Botany

Laboratory of Hormonal Regulations in Plants in the Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences is focused on elucidation of hormonal mechanisms underlying regulation of plant development as well as interactions with the environment. The spectrum of methods and approaches we use ranges from detail hormone analysis (ca 100 hormone metabolites in one sample), molecular biology (transcription profiling, RNAseq, gene cloning and tagging), advanced methods of fluorescence confocal microscopy to phenotyping at both cellular and whole plant levels.

Contribution to Greenhouse-PV
Our group deals with evaluation of the light intensity and effects of individual parts of light spectra on plant growth and abiotic stress responses. In this project we will focus on evaluation of the impacts of specific wavelengths (or their absence) on plant growth and development, which contribute to optimization of the design of Perovskite semi-transparent PV modules as well as of the most suitable wavelength-dependent reflectors. The effect of developed semi-transparent cells on plant performance will be elucidated by the determination of physiological parameters as well as phytohormone pools and selected gene transcripts. The responses of species commonly cultivated in greenhouses (e.g., tomato) will be compared with those of monocot – rice. Further, the effect of high light will be characterized.

 

Contact Information

  • RNDr. Radomíra Vanková, CSc.

  • Email: vankova@ueb.cas.cz

  • Tel.: +420 225 106 427

Address

  • Rozvojová 263, 165 02 Praha 6, Česká republika

  • Room number: 203

Other Projects