People want to have a choice between different colors – also when it comes to solar collectors. The problem is that colored solar collectors are far from as effective as the black ones. One solution is to paint the collectors with selective coatings, but most existing coatings are quite expensive and not very environmentally friendly. In the R&D project WABASELCOAT (WAter BAsed SELective COATings for intelligent facade collectors), nanotechnology has been used to develop multi-functional coatings for improving the performance and the visual aesthetics of polymeric solar collectors. Sustainability and cost efficiency have been key requirements throughout the product development phase.

A new solar system is on its way from our factory at Jevnaker to Iurreta in northern Spain. The solar collectors will be installed as a building-integrated solution in one of the south-facing facades of a larger building complex. The solar collectors will deliver energy for heating and domestic hot water preparation to the building itself, while also providing surplus heat to a low-temperature district heating network.

Inaventa Solar has recently started a new project, titled DisolBat (distributed solar and “blue batteries”), which builds on the results of an international collaboration project named RELaTED. Work on RELaTED has led to the identification of innovative technical solutions for solar district heating. However, effective business models for the deployment of these solutions have not yet been established. Developing business models that take into account contributions along the entire value chain will therefore be the primary focus of DisolBat, which has been granted the maximum amount of funding available from the Research Council of Norway.

Denmark is set on becoming 100% independent of fossil fuels. This is an inspiring challenge, which can be met through development and beneficial application of energy efficient and sustainable technologies, expresses Danish Technological Institute (DTI) on their webpages. DTI is the responsible developer of the energy neutral concept house EnergyFlexHouse, which is a part of “Green Lab for Energy Efficient Buildings” (GLEEB). This has been established to evaluate and verify innovative solutions, with respect to both energy efficiency cost effective technologies and intelligent interfaces between the users, the equipment and the building itself. The last piece of this puzzle is the installation of Inaventa Solar’s solar collectors. These are integrated into the building on the southern facade and will be connected to a district heating network.

The energy market is going through a dramatic change. Extreme weather conditions confirm the climate challenges, and the Paris Agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change. Solar energy is predicted to take a leading role in the modern energy mix, and there are two main approaches for the energy production, solar electric power (PV, photo voltaic), and solar heating. PV is the approach that most are familiar with, but our position is that it is also important to focus on solar heating, in order to satisfy the portion of the energy requirement with green, renewable solar energy. So, we simply asked one of our internal experts the question what are solar collectors, and what separates the solar collectors from solar cells?