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Solar energy supply and demand is growing constantly. Many new solar energy construction projects are being launched in Finland. Finnish technology companies are at the forefront of development. In addition to export transactions, new businesses and job creation are expected to arise significantly from this sector in the near future.
Aurubis Finland Oy (former Luvata Pori Rolled Products) has developed a novel solution for energy efficient buildings. Their Nordic Solar concept now demonstrated in full scale in the Pori swimming hall opened September 24th, 2011 comprises solar thermal collectors embedded directly within the prepatinated copper façade elements. Their development on new absorption coatings made in the Tekes Functional Materials Programme guarantees effective heat transfer, but more widely it shows how target-oriented material R&D combined with understanding of the application needs opens new business opportunities in a short time frame, says Dr. Markku Heino, Spinverse, Coordinator of the Functional Materials Programme.
Beneq has developed an online deposition method for transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coatings on large-area flat glass to achieve a cost-effective coating process for photovoltaics. The high conductivity of the TCO layer is critical for effective current collection and transparency to minimize light losses. Now the developed process based on Beneq’s proprietary nAERO® aerosol technique has been fully integrated with the high-quality heat treatment line for flat glass CHF Pro™ by their strategic partner Glaston. The result TFC2000™ is a novel continuous offline production concept for high-quality TCO coated glass for the solar industry and other potential applications such as low emissivity coatings for energy windows.
Savo-Solar’s SOLARCO development project done within the Tekes Functional Materials Programme has resulted in high-performance and high temperature resistant absorption coatings which are key enablers for novel solar-thermal collectors.