PVT market gains momentum: New players and large-scale installations
The German PVT market is on the move. New supplier structures are being established and more and more really large PVT systems have been realized or recently announced. The photo, for example, shows the opening of the AKG Group’s new production facility for PVT collectors in Hofgeismar in central Germany. The Solink collector from Consolar Solare Energiesysteme, Germany, has been assembled there since December 2024. Sunmaxx PVT, a German startup that has been producing PVT collectors in eastern Germany since the beginning of 2024, delivered 1,134 PVT elements for the new sports arena in Vienna, Austria, last year. The Dutch PVT manufacturer Triple Solar acquired the installer evoyo in western Germany at the beginning of 2024. Under Triple Solar Germany, a sales partner network is now being established and training courses offered for installers. Photo: Consolar
The AKG Group is a global manufacturer of heat exchangers and cooling systems with 3,300 employees. The company believes in the great market potential of uncovered PVT collectors as a heat source for heat pumps. The first assembly line will have an annual capacity of 65,000 collectors per year according to Consolar’s press release of 4 December.
The Solink collector is a proven technology. 4,000 systems with Solink collectors are already in operation across Europe, according to the press text. The collector was developed together with the Dutch company Triple Solar and until recently also manufactured and assembled in the Netherlands.
The manufacturing process has now been further optimized at AKG. PV modules and air-brine heat exchangers are connected to form a functional unit in a semi-automatic production process using special bonding technology. As AKG has decades of experience in the field of thermal management and bonding technology, the prerequisites for scaling up Solink technology on an industrial scale are in place, according to Consolar Managing Director Dr Ulrich Leibfried. Consolar is also aiming for price reductions.
520 Solink collectors have been installed on the roof of this office complex in Berlin and test operation started at the beginning of the year Photo: Consolar
Consolar celebrated its 30th anniversary in September 2024 in Berlin, where it introduced its latest major project with Solink collectors. 1,300 m2 have been installed on the roof of the new seven-storey Dockyard office building (see image above). The future heating and cooling system of the new building will be based solely on air-water and brine-water heat pumps. Two brine-water heat pumps receive heat from the PVT collectors on the roof as well as from the concrete cores below the foundation of the building. The innovative energy concept also includes one of the largest ice storage facilities in Germany. It is located in a 100-metre-long, disused railway tunnel and holds approx. 1,500 m3. As there is a lot of energy in the phase transition between ice and water, the ice storage is used as a seasonal storage. The storage tank freezes in autumn and winter and is melted again by the PVT heat in summer.
Design of the new sports arena in Vienna, Austria, with PVT on the roof, which opens its doors this year. Screenshot taken from a film of the city of Vienna: https://www.wien.gv.at/video/3129/Neue-Sport-Mehrzweckhalle
Austria’s first energy self-sufficient sports hall
Another ecological showcase project is the new sports arena in Vienna, on the roof of which there is a 2,268 m2 PVT system with PX-1 collectors from the German manufacturer Sunmaxx PVT. It is a versatile sports hall for training and competitions with a climate-neutral energy system. The building is due to go into operation in 2025. The energy concept includes a highly thermally insulated shell, building component activation and heat pumps. The PVT system, in combination with 70 boreholes of 150 metres each under the building, forms the heat supply for the heat pumps. The surplus solar heat from the PVT plant is used to regenerate the boreholes in summer.
In January, Sunmaxx announced its next major project. This time, 1,000 PX-1 collectors are to be build up at the Vaihingen-Enz plant of automotive supplier Mahle in southern Germany. The first Sunmaxx modules will be installed in February 2025, with commissioning of the system planned for July 2025. Mahle and Sunmaxx have a close partnership; the automotive supplier is a strategic investor and development partner of Sunmaxx.
According to a press release from 20 January, the PVT system has a total electrical output of more than 430 kW and produces around 1.2 GWh of thermal energy over the course of the year. This corresponds to a specific thermal yield of 600 kWh/m2a. This high yield is achieved by utilizing the surplus solar heat from the PVT plant in the summer months to regenerate the new geothermal probe field at the Vaihingen-Enz site.
PVT solution for the retrofit market
Triple Solar is expanding its sales network in Germany. The company from the Netherlands took over the business operation of a craft business in western Germany on 1 January 2024. The company now acting as Triple Solar GmbH was a provider of climate-friendly, sustainable electricity and heating solutions for homeowners including PV systems and heat pumps.
“We now have 30 experts at the start and are building up a nationwide partner network for Triple Solar products,” reported Franz Obernitz, Managing Director Export of Triple Solar Group. This includes a complete PVT solution including PVT heat pump panels and an in-house developed 3.5 kW PVT heat pump. With this product, Triple Solar has successfully addressed the retrofitting of buildings of housing cooperatives in the Netherlands.
A training centre is also part of the new facilities at Triple Solar’s German subsidiary. The first training course for installers took place there in July 2024.
Dynamic team of Triple Solar Photo: Triple Solar
Websites of organizations mentioned in this news article:
Consolar Solar Energiesysteme: https://www.consolar.de/en/home_en/
Sunmaxx PVT: https://sunmaxx-pvt.com/
Triple Solar Germany: https://triplesolar.de/
AKG Group: https://www.akg-group.com/akg-group/
