f|solar: World premiere for extremely thin glass

This was awarded by the German Institute for Building Technology (Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik - DIBt) in Berlin and is valid for five years. Heat strengthened and equipped with a robust and homogenous antireflection coating, "f|solarfloat HT" is optimally suited for use in glass-glass PV modules of the latest generation. As heat strengthened glass for the back of the modules, with holes for the electrical connections, "f|ecofloat T" is used. Especially interesting for module manufacturers: the technical approval also applies to sheets of glass with drilled holes, coatings and enamelling.

"Glass-glass photovoltaic modules have a particularly high yield stability and last for an extremely long time – they therefore provide additional value compared with traditional modules. Our two-millimetre-thick glass types are ideal for both the front and the back of the modules", explains Thomas Keyser, Managing Director of f|solar GmbH.

Float glass process for consistently high quality

For building-integrated PV systems, glass of a reliably high quality is especially important – which is one of the reasons that this new type of solar glass is produced exclusively with an industrial float glass process. This ensures that a manufacturing tolerance of 2 mm ± 0.05 mm can be maintained. The float glass also has a very low defect density, which provides clear advantages for the processes that follow such as the creation of a particularly high level of tempering – an essential requirement for the strength of the glass-glass PV laminate. This is made possible by a modern tempering furnace that achieves top results in terms of flatness and bending tensile strength. With a typical bending tensile strength of 120 N/mm² the heat strengthened two-millimetre solar glass even exceeds the required norm for four-millimetre standard glass.

f|solarfloat HT is coated under vacuum conditions with a robust and homogenous mono-broadband antireflection coating and provides an energy transmittance (TePV) of around 94 percent. To increase the back glass reflection, the glass at the rear of the module can be ceramic screen-printed.

f | solar GmbH specializes in the industrial production and marketing of especially low-iron, highly transmissive solar glass with an effective, extremely robust and long-lasting antireflection coating. In one of the most modern fully integrated solar glass production plants in Germany around 230 experts produce up to 700 tonnes of extremely low-iron solar float glass daily. The highest environmental standards are in place: green products – green production.