Photovoltaic skylight for the Port of Malaga

From pv magazine Spain

Ávila-based photovoltaic glass manufacturer Onyx Solar has provided its product for the construction of a photovoltaic skylight at the Port of Malaga.

The installation covers a surface of 214m2 and has a peak power of 20kW. It is comprised of 70 crystalline silicon photovoltaic glass modules of different sizes and shapes.

“The project consisted of replacing the existing and inactive glass with photovoltaic glass from Onyx Solar,” the company said in a statement. “In addition to generating its own clean energy, this project will allow the Port Authority of Malaga to start considerably improving the interior comfort of the building by filtering harmful radiation from the sun, while also improving thermal transmittance.”

The glass modules have been fully customized to the customer's needs. For the comprehensive renewal of the skylight, it was also necessary to adapt the size of the photovoltaic glass modules to the existing structure of the building.

Specifically, glass has been supplied in rectangular, triangular, and rectangular trapezoidal shapes: the rectangular glasses have 9 different sizes, ranging from 2,580 x 920mm to 2,700 x 1,320mm; the triangular glasses measure 1,251 x 1,256mm; and, finally, the trapezoidal rectangular glass reaches 3,459mm and 2,554mm.

A glass with medium transparency was chosen, with enough space between the polycrystalline solar cells to allow plenty of natural light to enter the building.