Nano News

nanoShell Solar PV, our solar panel coatings product, is a non-toxic, biodegradable nano coatings for the glass lenses of photovoltaic and solar thermal panels. The glass coatings provide two key benefits:

• Near-true self-cleaning glass - The lense is kept clean, maintaining PV efficiency. Clean PV lenses require less maintenance leading to a better return on investment.
• Anti-wetting (hydrophobic) effect - During inclement weather, water forms droplets which roll rapidly off the sloped coated glass lense taking dirt with it, increasing the amount of available light to the cells.
  
  

Manufactured in Germany, nanoShell Solar PV is part of a range of nano coatings and protective products offered by Plymouth based nanoShell Ltd. Specifically targeted at improving Photo Voltaic efficiency and lowering maintenance costs, the performance coatings product nanoShell Solar PV has been returning impressive results even though the UK trial has only been running for a short while.

So how do nanoShell’s solar panel coatings keep the panels clean?

The invisible coating nanoShell Solar PV acts as a barrier, a nano-sized non-toxic biodegradable layer on the glass's surface. This barrier reduces the opportunity for dust, bird faeces and water to stick to the glass.

The glass coatings last for approximately 4 to 5 years and it is possible that during that time no cleaning will be required. For areas of high dirt/bird activity and low rainfall some additional cleaning may be required although this would be significantly less than on non-coated solar panels. Clean water systems as are now employed by many windows cleaning companies can be utilised for this cleaning process.

Our key test site, Philip House in Exeter, has a 10kw installation spread across one 2kw inverter and two 4kw inverters. For testing purposes, the self-cleaning solar panel coatings have been applied to all the panels (16 x Sharp 250) attached to one of the 4kw inverters. Before the testing started, all inverters were reporting very similar results, however after the first test week, which was predominantly rainy and overcast, a significant difference was recorder: the non-coated panels produced 14kw whilst the panels coated with nanoShell’s solar panel coatings produced 17kw.

That's an amazing 21.43% improvement. The panels already have “self-cleaning glass” but nanoShell’s Solar Panel Coatings further improve this property.

Watch this space to find out more about the anti-wetting (hydrophobic) properties of our solar panel coatings nanoShell Solar PV!

To find out more about our high performance nano coatings, please get in touch or call us on 0845 838 8648!