- Megasol has secured the license to use Fraunhofer ISE developed MorphoColor technology
- It will use the same to produce colored solar panels for various glass surfaces
- Fraunhofer ISE says this technology opens up new possibilities in the protection of monuments
Switzerland based solar module manufacturer Megasol Energie AG has acquired the license to use MorphoColor color technology, developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE to produce colored PV panels.
For the MorphoColor layer, Fraunhofer ISE uses a photonic structure bringing together an interference layer with a geometrically structured substrate ‘in such a way that a particularly narrow-band reflection maximum results’.
In this structure, only small parts of the light spectrum are reflected, leaving rest of the sunlight to pass undisturbed. This, explains Fraunhofer ISE, reduces the module’s efficiency by less than 10% relative to an uncoated module.
The inspiration behind the technology was the morpho butterfly whose blue wings create a color impression that’s largely angularly stable, shared Co-Inventor and developer of MorphoColor at Fraunhofer ISE, Dr Thomas Kroyer.
“A solar module with ‘Solarcolor Morpho’ achieves up to 94% of the efficiency compared to a conventional black solar module, said Head of Public Relations at Megasol, Michael Reist. “That’s sensational.”
As Megasol focuses its attention on building integrated PV (BIPV), it sees potential to produce panels of various sizes and shares where glass surfaces can be freely selected.
Fraunhofer ISE believes MorphoColor glasses can also be used for building integrated colored solar thermal collectors or PVT collectors. It also ‘opens up new possibilities in the protection of monuments’.
“Transferring developments from Fraunhofer ISE to industrial applications is always our overriding goal,” added Institute Director at Fraunhofer ISE, Prof Dr Andreas Bett. “We are therefore very pleased that this has been achieved here with the company Megasol Energie and that the construction industry will be able to fall back on highly efficient colored PV systems in the future.”
