Swansea: Photovoltaics for painting on steel cladding

Development opportunity, Research lead

Dave Worsley and colleagues at the Materials Research Centre at Swansea University’s School of Engineering have developed a photovoltaic material that could be applied to flexible steel cladding, using the same process in which the building material is painted.

The researchers have collaborated with the steel industry over many years, with a focus on improving the durability and corrosion resistance of steel. The shift to photovoltaic coatings came about following an investigation into how sunlight interacts with paint coatings and degrades them.

Unlike conventional solar cells, the materials under development at Swansea are more efficient at capturing low light radiation, meaning that they are better suited to the Northern European climate.

A research grant from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Welsh Energy Research Centre (WERC) enabled Dr Worsley to work with the Anglo/Dutch steel maker Corus, to investigate the feasibility of developing an solar cell system that can be applied to steel building products.

This study led to the award of a three-year project worth over £1.5 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Swansea University is now leading a partnership with Bangor University, University of Bath, and Imperial College London to ensure the photovoltaics are commercially viable.

Paint is applied to steel when it is passed through rollers during the manufacturing process, and it is hoped that the same approach can be used to build up layers of the solar cell system. The researchers’ aim is to produce cells that can be painted onto a flexible steel surface at a rate of 30 to 40 square metres per minute.

According to Worsley, Corus produces around 100 million square metres of steel building cladding a year. “If this was treated with the photovoltaic material, and assuming a conservative 5 percent energy conversion rate, then we could be looking at generating 4,500 gigawatts of electricity through the solar cells annually. That’s the equivalent output of roughly 50 wind farms.”

Worsley will be working with Corus to develop practical, cost-efficient methods of mounting the system on steel structures, preparing the product for commercialisation.