Photovoltaic living lab reaches the 100 Megawatt-hour mark
Blick auf die Solarfassade des Reallabors. © HZB
About three years ago, the living laboratory at HZB went into operation. Since then, the photovoltaic facade has been generating electricity from sunlight. On September 27, 2024, it reached the milestone of 100 megawatt-hours.
Solar facades offer untapped potential for generating clean electricity. How much they actually deliver and which environmental factors play a role are being studied at HZB's real laboratory. The facade elements installed there have now reached the 100-megawatt-hour mark.
This amount of energy is enough to supply a four-person household in Germany with clean electricity for 30 years. At HZB, the electricity generated by the laboratory’s solar facade is used entirely on-site, which makes the facility particularly economical. According to initial estimates, the additional costs compared to a conventional facade have amortized after 18 years.
What is the Living Lab?
It is a research building on the BESSY II location in Berlin-Adlershof equipped with a photovoltaic facade. A total of 360 frameless, blue-coated modules were installed on the south, west, and north facades of the building. Particular emphasis was placed on ensuring the solar facade elements are aesthetically pleasing.
The living laboratory is equipped with 120 measuring points and sensors for monitoring among others temperature, solar radiation and ventilation. This allows the behavior of the solar modules and the entire PV facade system to be evaluated under different seasonal and weather conditions over a long period.
Findings contribute to the building-integrated photovoltaics advisory service
These insights directly contribute to advisory services, benefiting society as a whole. HZB operates the independent advisory service for building-integrated photovoltaics (BAIP). Experts provide advice to architects, builders and urban planners on technologies, products, design options, technical feasibility, and legal frameworks.
- Two Humboldt-Fellows join HZBIn 2024, two young scientists joined HZB as Humboldt Fellows. Kazuki Morita joined Prof. Antonio Abate's group and brings his expertise in modelling and data analysis to solar energy research. Qingping Wu is an expert in battery research and works with Prof. Yan Lu on high energy density lithium metal batteries.
- Less is more: Why an economical Iridium catalyst works so wellIridium-based catalysts are needed to produce hydrogen using water electrolysis. Now, a team at HZB has shown that the newly developed P2X catalyst, which requires only a quarter of the Iridium, is as efficient and stable over time as the best commercial catalyst. Measurements at BESSY II have now revealed how the special chemical environment in the P2X catalyst during electrolysis promotes the oxygen evolution reaction during water splitting.
- Battery research with the HZB X-ray microscopeNew cathode materials are being developed to further increase the capacity of lithium batteries. Multilayer lithium-rich transition metal oxides (LRTMOs) offer particularly high energy density. However, their capacity decreases with each charging cycle due to structural and chemical changes. Using X-ray methods at BESSY II, teams from several Chinese research institutions have now investigated these changes for the first time with highest precision: at the unique X-ray microscope, they were able to observe morphological and structural developments on the nanometre scale and also clarify chemical changes.