Flexible solar PV manufacturer Power Roll has teamed up with sustainable packaging firm Amcor to expedite the development of lightweight solar PV film.
The two firms have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) stating that the partnership will focus on developing a new, lightweight solar photovoltaic film that could serve as a lower-cost alternative to conventional silicon-based solar panels.
Since its founding in 2012, Power Roll has been working to bring solar PV microgroove technology to the wider commercial market. The company’s proprietary solar film combines microgrooves with a vacuum coating process, similar to processes used to create food packaging.
In order to limit the need for rare earth metals in the final product, Power Roll uses perovskites – a particularly efficient material currently making a major splash in the solar sector, as Solar Power Portal has previously reported.
The result is a lightweight film that can be used in applications where the weight or cost of traditional silicon solar panels makes their installation impossible. The technology puts a large number of solar cells into a very small space; as Neil Spann, chief executive of Power Roll explained to Solar Power Portal in 2021: “Unlike other solar technologies, in a relatively small area we can demonstrate our solar technology in full. In a 20cm2 sample, we have 8,000 individual solar cells connected into 500 separate modules which is completely unique.”
Last month, the County Durham-based firm was the recipient of a £4.3 million funding injection thanks to the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II). Through the NPIFII, Maven Equity Finance invested £1.5 million, with an additional £750,000 coming from the Finance Durham Fund established by Durham County Council, and a further £750,000 invested by the North East Development Capital Fund. Another £1.3 million was secured from multiple private investors.
Amcor, too, has a presence in the solar PV sector, and the two firms hope that leveraging Amcor’s expertise in roll-to-roll manufacturing processes will allow Power Roll to expand across the UK and beyond. Power Roll has previously stated that it plans to commercially licence the manufacturing process for the solar film technology internationally to allow for global expansion.
Commenting on the partnership, Spann said: “With one in three commercial rooftops unable to handle the weight of traditional solar panels, equivalent to 12 billion square metres globally, our mission is to lead a global rooftop solar revolution. The need for low-cost clean energy has never been greater.”
