Alternative Outlook

It’s a common myth that the UK doesn’t have sufficient sunlight for solar energy. In fact England receives a higher solar radiance on average than Germany, while Germany represents half of Europe’s installed solar capacity, generating over 3% of the country’s total electricity.

An innovative Cambridge-based developer and manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) glass, Polysolar, has applied its transparent solar panels to develop greenhouses, orangeries, car ports, balustrades, canopies, lean-to shelters and garden offices.

Just imagine a glasshouse that not only protects your plants but also enables you to generate electricity, not just in direct sunlight but also on cloudy days, a familiar situation in the UK!  Polysolar’s transparent solar panels have been tested in the Solar Farm at Sheffield University for almost 18 months and have shown to produce up to 25% more electricity than conventional solar panels.  In addition, the tinted PV glass lets light through for photosynthesis while it cuts out the ultraviolet wavelengths, preventing scorching of plants and helping to maintain a more constant temperature.

The electricity generated from these photovoltaic solar panels are eligible for Feed-in-Tariff (FiT), which is a payment by the electricity utility for the power generated by the householder from their solar PV system for 25 years.  Even with the recent Government halving of the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) the return on investment remains favourable or comparable to getting a free greenhouse over its lifetime.

To make PV economically viable as a domestic power source without subsidies, PV needs to perform multiple functions – not just electricity generation.  In other words it needs to act as a building material in its own right, substituting for existing building materials and, therefore, representing only a marginal additional cost, rather than a resource wasteful ‘tack-on’ solution.  This is known as Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) – currently the fastest growing segment on the PV market.

Polysolar, in addition to supplying its PV glass into the architectural construction industry has now launched a range of domestic greenhouses, carports and shelter solutions that enable householders to benefit from the multiple functions and cost savings of BIPV.
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For many homeowners putting conventional PV panels on the roof may not be possible for aesthetic, planning or positioning reasons but putting, for example, a solar PV greenhouse in the garden can “kill two birds with one stone”.  You get an effective PV system to power the home and a fully functional greenhouse in which to grow your plants!

As Edison once said “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” – Thomas Edison, 1931