'Our revolutionary solar panel provides energy even in dense fog'

A solar panel that also provides ample energy in winter. When it is cloudy, in dense fog and even when there is a pack of snow on top. That would have a big impact on the way we use energy. It appears to have been around for 25 years, but is only now coming to the market.

The solar panel works not so much on sunlight, but on daylight, says Herman Harkink, owner of HaHe bv that has the rights for the panel. "Each cell consists of an inverted pyramid, so the panel slurps all the energy in, so to speak." As a result, a cloud in front of the sun hardly affects energy generation, and even in fog, energy is simply generated. "When it's foggy, you can just look around, right? There is light, so there is energy. Even with snow on the panel, you get energy from it."

Yield and weight

The fact that the new panel generates energy from daylight instead of direct sunlight also means that in winter it generates much more energy than ordinary panels. "Our panels exploit the full daylight spectrum, including diffused light. So they generate energy from the moment it gets light, no matter where they are on the roof. At the beginning of the day, the curve goes straight up. And in the heart of winter, you still have 7 hours of light. Because it's less light than in summer, the yield does go down a bit, but it can still reach 270 watts per hour per panel. So with twenty panels you have 5 kW of energy per hour. So on December 21, you're still at 35 kW. In a whole year, the yield is up to 750 kWh per square meter."

Aside from providing enormous energy when the traditional panel almost completely fails, the panels are much lighter. "There is no glass in the panel at all. We use foil. Our panel weighs 6 kg. Other panels weigh as much as 25 kg."

Tested for 25 years

But how is it that such a wonder panel, which could potentially help solve a lot of bottlenecks in energy supply, is not yet being mass deployed? "This technology was kept secret by the U.S. military for 25 years," Harkink explains. "It was only released three years ago."

The military used the panels to build an on-site power grid for which they didn't need cables. And they didn't want other countries to have this advantage. According to Harkink, that did ensure that the panels were tested in every possible situation and condition in real-world conditions. "In the cold, in the heat, under snow, with fresh water, with salt water. There is even a special Teflon coating developed for it that a 9mm bullet will stick in. We stripped it down, of course, so the price is manageable. But through long use, we are sure that panels made 20 years ago still have the same capacity. Degradation does not exist with us. As a result, we can give a 30-year warranty."

More expensive but cheaper

Right now, these new solar panels are much more expensive than traditional ones, which you can get for less than 200 euros. "I have to buy them for 1950 euros," says Harkink. "But now they still have to come from the US. And parts of them come from Taiwan, for example, which have to go to the U.S. first. That makes it all quite expensive. But when we have the orders in for a few thousand panels, we have a location in Europe where we can make them. That can bring the price down to 1,000 euros."

It is still much more expensive than other panels. Still, these panels can be cost effective, Harkink believes. "If you assume 27 cents per kWh, you will have recouped the cost of the panels in eight years." And in addition to providing much more energy than the usual panels, the solar panels are much lighter, which provides additional TCO benefits. "You need fewer panels anyway, and therefore fewer frames. Furthermore, the panels are not made of glass and are therefore much lighter. That means the weight on the roof is much less of a problem."

Residential neighborhood in Assen

Those who want to switch to this panel cannot currently go to the Netherlands for research results. "The claims I make have yet to be independently proven," Harkink points out. But he says that will change soon. In Assen, a neighborhood of 100 homes is being built that will have these panels on the roofs. There will also be a neighborhood battery, and here, too, Harkink chooses a technology that is not yet established, a hybrid supercapacitor battery. "That, too, was developed for defense in extreme environments," he says. "If you shoot a 9 mm bullet through that, it just keeps working, it's non-flammable and non-toxic. It needs no cooling and so it makes little to no noise. And also for the battery, it lasts at least 20 years without degradation."

Even for the heat pump, Harkink is not taking the beaten path. "That's a 4-pipe heat pump with a COP of 12. With an input of 1kWh, you get back 5 kW of cooling and 7 kW of heat. With the whole package, these homes could be completely off the grid. So my vision is to consume as little energy as possible without compromising on comfort. And that won't work if we keep doing the same thing we were already doing."

Also read: Dynamic phase switching: how to charge your car using only solar energy