Build Solar Ltd

Company description

Build Solar develops photovoltaic cells, for the collection of solar energy, that can be integrated with building features such as walls and skylights.

Company Profile: Build Solar are a recent spin-out from the University of Exeter (June 2017), following five years of solar concentrator research led by Dr. Hasan Baig and Prof. Tapas Mallick. The company seeks to develop and commercialize innovative construction materials by embedding advanced photovoltaic technology into them. These construction materials also classed as Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) replace an element of the building skin/ facade and easily integrate within the built environment. Build Solar's first patent pending product "Solar Squared" transforms the widely used Glass Blocks into a multifunctional product that provides electricity, daylighting and improved thermal insulation. Typical Glass Blocks are used on the exterior walls of a building to provide daylighting and privacy to the indoor environment. However, the void inside these glass blocks leads to thermal losses and hence higher U-Values. Solar Squared incorporates a plurality of glass projections inside this hollow space serving to disrupt convection currents forming in the void and cutting down thermal losses leading to lower U-values. Further, the shape of these projections allows for concentration of incoming solar radiation. Connecting small sized solar cells along these projections simultaneously generates more electricity per unit solar cell area and provides privacy to the indoor environments. The front face of these projections can also be varied to incorporate better aesthetics within the product. Aimed at the commercial and public construction sectors our current product Solar Squared provides all the standard benefits of using glass blocks for building exteriors such as daylighting, protection, and structure but also generates electricity in the form of solar energy and offers enhanced thermal insulation. Predicted that the BIPV Market will grow from about $3 billion in 2015 to over $9 billion in 2019, and surge to $26 billion by 2022. We want to be a part of this exciting market opportunity and aim to capture at least 5 % of this market in the coming five years through our innovative solutions. Having solar energy collection integrated into the building envelope as part of the design replaces conventional building envelope materials with a smart and multifunctional technology that not only serves it original purpose but also has a financial payback through electricity generation and energy savings. The incorporation of the PV technology within the building structure prevents PV system theft which is increasingly problematic in both developed and developing countries. Onsite energy generation (OSG) will reduce energy losses associated with transmitting power from a far and reduce dependency on grid infrastructure. Coupled with the increasing availability of building scale battery storage technology, our technology has the potential to be an important part of the emerging distributed OSG clean energy system. As an organization we have applied a lean manufacturing strategy for the development of our product. We have tied up with existing glass block manufacturer to produce our innovative glass block henceforth avoiding any further emissions and environmental impacts by deploying a completely new production setup. We have also tied up with existing solar cell manufacturers to produce our unique solar cell technology. This way we have avoided almost 70% of carbon emissions that would happen if we were to completely manufacture our entire product. While the product has been in technological development for last one year, the commercial business is relatively young and still essentially a start-up so has no financials. Build Solar aims to develop several construction materials that integrate solar technology, partly mitigating the negative environmental effects of rising building energy consumption. Further, the company aims to develop a network of international partnerships construction companies that sell, distribute, and install construction materials. Personnel: Dr. Hasan Baig (Founder & CEO-Build Solar) leads new product and new market activities. He obtained his PhD (2015) in Renewable Energy from the University of Exeter, UK. For his research Hasan won the Impact Award in the Sustainable Futures category at the university of Exeter in 2013. Over the years Hasan has worked extensively on design and manufacture of several Building Integrated Solar Concentrator technologies. He presented the company profile at the Cleantech Innovate UK and the BRE BIPV stakeholders workshop this year. Hasan is managing the overall operations and networking with many stakeholders towards building the company's future directions. Prof. Tapas Mallick, Scientific Advisor and Chairman for the company is a World leader in BIPV technology. He is currently the Chair in Clean Technologies, Environment & Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, UK. He has brought in grant funding of more than 350,000 GBP in the research for Building Integrated solar technologies at the University of Exeter. Tapas is communicating the company profile through his own scientific networks and seeking opportunities to collaborate on a scientific scale through any potential grant funding opportunities. Jim Williams is a Non-Executive Director and commercialization manager at Build Solar. He has a background in product development, manufacturing, and retail of consumer outdoor goods. He is continuously in touch with the glass block industry partners and investors to bring in more interest towards the company. The company has developed strong links with national level business such as HS2 and Network Rail towards large scale deployment of the technology. The company has also successfully completed Innovate UK SBRI funding towards feasibility of the technology.

Project impact

60% of global carbon emissions are caused by buildings. Our vision is to challenge this adversity through the concept of Net Zero Energy buildings, meaning the total amount of energy used on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site. BUILD SOLAR aims to commercialize innovative photovoltaic solutions by combining them with traditional construction materials and transforming buildings from energy consumers to power generators. Through a series of its products, the company is poised to become a major key player in the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) industry. The BIPV market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 16% between 2016 and 2024 and the global market is currently valued at $7 billion. To catch up with this growing industry and gather further momentum BUILD SOLAR is currently faced with several obstacles including lack of education about these technologies among architects, standard product specifications, building regulatory, manufacturing costs and lack of well-trained installers. Aimed at the commercial and public sectors, our first product Solar Squared provides standard benefits such as daylighting, protection, and structure alongside electricity generation and better thermal insulation. The company has established a route to market within the UK market through Glass Block Technology Limited, one of the major glass block sellers, distributors, and installers in Europe. The company will build a network of partnerships with similar glass block companies to access international markets in the future. We have already patented our technology through the following UK patent "Construction Block with Photovoltaic Device, PATENT APPLICATION NUMBER 1705840.5". Our technical impact has been very strong on the glass block industry wherein we have completely transformed a standard construction material into an innovative energy solution. Prototyping of our first product Solar Squared is in progress and we hope to complete it by August this year. Further new designs of the product are being developed for the next round of prototyping. Socially we have presented our product to the public, researchers and school children visiting the Environment & Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter. We have also participated in the stakeholder workshop on BIPV technologies organized by BRE. Through this workshop we have introduced our product to existing BIPV manufacturers and gathered their feedback, understand the wider challenges BIPV industry faces and unlock routes for future developments. The Solar Squared unit will improve the performance of a widely used building material (glass block). The function of architectural glass blocks is to allow daylighting, and lower artificial lighting loads. Thus, Build Solar have reduced the active cell area of the PV, while still pulling back efficiency and yield by concentrating incoming light. The power density at standard tests conditions is analogous to approx. 25 Wp/m2. This compares well with amorphous silicon and organic photovoltaics which also have a similar power density. With the addition of the concentrators and solar cells in the block, internal convective air currents are reduced which in turn improves the thermal insulation performance of the block versus the standard hollow version. The traditional glass block has a U-Value =2.8 W/m2 K. Solar Squared Glass Block aims to reduce this by up to 50 %. The improvement of U-Value to 1.4 W/m2 K will result in thermal energy savings of 0.51 kWh/annum/block. This equates to Year 1 savings of 69,700 kWh, the equivalent of 6 houses' energy demand. By year 4 this is 4,056,114 kWh or 347 houses (based on U-Value improvement from 2.8 to 1.4 W/m2 K, Year 1-unit sales of 136,400 units, year 5 unit sales of 7,937,600 units and an average UK household energy usage of 11,700 kWH p.a.). The CO2e savings equate to 24t CO2e saved in Year 1 rising to 1,425t CO2e by Year 4 (based on UK grid CO2e grid electricity of 0.35156kg CO2e/kWH, BEIS Carbon Factors 2017). The price per tonne of carbon saved equates to ?73k in Year 1 falling to just ?11k per tonne by Year 4. Assuming full market adoption to 114m glass blocks this results in carbon savings of over 20,000t per annum. The concentration concept is not new and has been proven in other concentrating solar technologies. In the case of Solar Squared, the team at Exeter have chosen a relatively low power concentrator which magnifies by a factor 3 - 6. This allows the concentrating lens to have a wide angle of acceptance (ca. half acceptance angle 35°), meaning that contrary to typical high concentration application which need dual axis tracking, a vertically installed south facing Solar Squared array should be able to receive light for at least 7 hours a day. The Energy Payback Time of the system can be as low as 3yrs which is comparable to current rooftop PV technologies, something that current BIPV struggle to deliver. The Energy Return On Investment of Solar Squared is targeted to be less than 5 years with an estimated equivalent carbon footprint of 20g CO2e/kWh energy generated. Based on the BEIS toolkit for valuation of energy use the Year 4 energy savings have an NPV of?619,280 and an annualized NPV. BUILD SOLAR is a recent startup and an outcome of more than five years of Solar PV research at the University of Exeter. Since its launch at the Cleantech Innovate UK in April this year it has managed to raise a lot of interest from several construction companies and media. Some of the notable articles can be found below. Build Solar in the Press • Solar power glass bricks generate energy while letting in light, Reuteurs, November 28th, 2017 • Watts new in glass blocks, Royal Institute of British Architects September 8th2017 • Researchers develop solar glass blocks to power houses, PV Magazine August 24th2017 • Could This Glass Brick Be the Solution to Solar Energy's Design Problems?, Architectural Digest August 23rd2017 • Revolutionary glass building blocks generate their own solar energy, Inhabitat August17th2017 • University of Exeter creates energy generating glass bricks, BIM+Chartered Institute of Building August 23rd2017 • Solar blocks could replace solar panels on buildings, TreeHugger, August17th2017 • These solar glass bricks let in light while generating energy, Curbed August 23rd2017 • Is This Solar Power Tech the Future of Glass Blocks?, Architect-Journal of American Architects, August17th2017 • How to Leverage Glass Block Construction to Achieve LEED Certification, Architizer August 31st2017 • These solar glass blocks would make great skylights for your solar roofs, Techcrunch August18th2017