Pv skylights

grainnebawn

Hiya,

Just wondering has anyone any knowledge of these are available in Ireland? EU? I see they've been used in America, but don't see much about them over here. Glass with pv technology. Thanks in advance

the_amazing_raisin

Haven't seen them in Ireland, but the principle is pretty simple. Normal solar panels are glass panels with silicon photovoltaic cells underneath and and backing sheet at the bottom

Take the backing sheet away and the panel would be semitransparent and could be used as a window

The main issue is that the amount of power generated would be less than a conventional panel. This might be fine in the sun belt of the US, but in cloudy Ireland it'll likely cut down on the amount of energy production considerably

The other issue would be with the size of the windows. Unless you're building a glass atrium out of the things, you'll probably just have a couple of skylights, so not much area to generate power

Better approach IMO if you're looking at solar and skylights would be to try and plan them around each other so you can maximise the amount of panels without sacrificing much light through your skylights