The use of photovoltaic conversion in innovative solutions

Abstract

The year 2021 is inevitably coming, in which all newly built buildings should meet the standard of almost zero-energy all newly build constructions (nZEB). This means that buildings should have almost zero or low energy consumption. The energy demand should be covered to a very high degree from renewable sources, including renewable energy produced on-site or nearby. One of the renewable that can be used is solar energy, which for the 9th time in a row has achieved the largest share (42.5%) of new investments utilising renewable energy sources. Currently, solar energy is most often used by photovoltaic cells, which converts it into electricity. Over the past 15 years, the accumulated annual growth rate of photovoltaic production has been over 40%, which means that the photovoltaic industry is the fastest growing in the world. The annual capacity of new solar installations installed has increased from 29.5 GWp in 2012 to 107 GWp in 2018. The development of solar technology is huge. Previously known technologies are improving and refined, which stands for that the efficiency of electricity conversion is increasing. New innovative technologies using photovoltaic cells are also emerging. These include cells dedicated to the building facade BIPV, used in louvres of curtain blinds, filling mullion-transom facades, roof skylights or balustrades. NanoPV windows are a new product appearing on the market. This is a product that uses innovative material - quantum dots, i.e. small semiconductors with the sizes of several or several dozens of nanometers, having the ability to absorb and emit electromagnetic radiation. In this work, the authors present the development of photovoltaic technology and the most interesting solutions according to the authors regarding the use of solar technologies.