Heliatek Integrated Organic Photovoltaic Project Installed in France

The world's largest building integrated organic photovoltaic (BIOPV) installation has been completed in France using Heliatek GmbHs’s HeliaSol solar film solution.

BIOPV roof installation in La Rochelle, HeliaSol on standing seam roof system. Courtesy of Heliatek GmbH.

In the southwestern port of La Rochelle, France, 500 m² of Heliatek's solar films were installed on the roof of the Pierre Mendes France middle school with project partner Engie. With three different lengths of 2, 4 and 5.7 m, nearly 400 films were applied in record time and installed on two different roof surfaces.

With a self-adhesive backside, as well as preconfigured wiring, HeliaSol is mounted directly onto existing roof surfaces and only needs to be electrically connected. A team of six people needed only eight hours to install 500 m² of HeliaSol as deployment took just over two minutes per film. With an installed power of 22.5 kWp, about 23.8 MWh of electricity will be generated annually, which is equivalent of the annually consumption of five households. It represents approximately 15 percent of the school’s electricity demand.

Heliatek is a developer of large-area organic photovoltaic solar films. Engie is an electric utility company.