The solar panels can be designed to look like any type of
construction material — terracotta, stone, cement or wood — in order to blend
in with the building’s architecture. An Italian company is making photovoltaic roof tiles that
perfectly mimic materials such as terracotta, stone and wood. In historic centres and buildings throughout Europe,
obtaining permission to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) roof can be
complicated. Aesthetic landscape constraints are often so strict that the
limitations become prohibitive, unless the solar cells are invisible.
Hence, many have tried hiding or embedding solar roof panels
in a material that resembles what is often used for roofing, stone paving or to
clad blind walls. Elon Musk’s Tesla, for example, came up with a glass-layered
shingle. Products like these are more or less invisible from the street—but
from a certain height one can see the dark cells, an unacceptable idea in
places such as the renowned Paris roofscape. Now Dyaqua, a small family-owned company in Vicenza, Italy,
has created a product called Invisible Solar, a PV roof tile unlike anything
else on the market. And it has sparked an immediate boom. Dyaqua inserts the PV cells inside a polymeric compound that
mimics common building materials such as stone or wood so that the solar cells
are completely invisible to the human eye. “Since we started production a few months ago, we can’t keep
up with orders, not only from Italy, but from France, Spain and the United
States,” said Giovanni Quagliato, a Vicenza-born artist specialised in creating
epoxy resin artwork, who discovered the secret to giving a totally natural look
to polymeric compounds, while keeping them transparent to light The compound can be transformed to look like any building
material, whether terracotta, stone, cement or wood. It is non-toxic and
recyclable, built to withstand high static loads and resistant to atmospheric
agents and chemical solvents. “It’s all about density: it has to be enough to
fool the eye, but not too much, so as not to block the rays of the sun,”
explained Quagliato. Years ago, he launched a production line of LED lights
called Medea, based on the same technology. He then went on to create PV
systems with his line Dyaqua, launched in collaboration with the Italian
National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic
Development (ENEA).
“The principle is the same: in the lamps, the light comes from the inside and
must go outwards, while in PV tiles, the rays of the sun come from the outside
and must penetrate the transparent material and reach the solar cells,”
Quagliato explained. Applying this theory, however, was no easy task. Achieving
the ideal concentration took years of hard work. The prototype’s efficiency was
then tested by an independent scientific body. The tests confirmed an
impressive performance of 70 peak watts per square meter, or about half the
performance of a classic photovoltaic module.
Invisible Solar is available on the market for 7 euros per
watt, against 1-2 euros per watt for standard PV modules. “You have to keep in
mind that these are handcrafted products, designed specifically for historical
centres: prices can often vary from 1 to 7 euros even for regular tiles and
historic centre roof tiles,” Quagliato noted.
For now, Dyaqua survives on the production of LED lamps. The
photovoltaic products are not financially sustainable, because they require an
exorbitant amount of manual work. So far, there aren’t any machines capable of
replacing the careful hand of man in applying different layers of resin at
varying densities, both above and under the photovoltaic cells, with the right
curvature for the perfect roof tile. The creation of flat surfaces resembling
stone or cement is simpler, but it is still a delicate task that cannot compare
to the industrial production of ordinary tiles or solar panels.
“To accelerate production and keep up with demand, we would
have to invent machines that integrate or replace manual work,” said Quagliato.
Only in this way can mass production be achieved, contributing to lower prices
and increased product competitiveness with large producers, such as Tesla’s
Solar Roof.
But Dyaqua lacks the funds to invest in a machine.
Quagliato’s children, Matteo and Elisa, launched a crowdfunding campaign on
IndieGoGo, attempting to raise USD 20,000 to pay for one. “Invisible Solar is
my dream of a healthy world,” noted Matteo, “where technology has the natural
appearance of our landscapes."
