Sunspeker Brings Advertising and Sustainability into Harmony with Recyclable Solar Panel Wrap
Italian startup, Sunspeker, has developed a customizable and fully recyclable sticker to wrap photovoltaic panels.
The company is focused on using SAS (Smart and Sustainable) ideologies to bring eco-friendly solutions to out-of-home (OOH) advertising. Through their newly patented technology, the Sunspeker Cover can transform any advertising poster into a fully recyclable graphics cover which can be applied to any solar panel without compromising solar efficiency.
The company recently secured €115,000 ($120.950) in funding from Italian state-run investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to bring its new technology to market.
The company says the stickers can replicate high-definition images while remaining permeable to light. This reportedly ensures that the modules retain between 80% and 90% of their efficiency. While there is a small drop in efficiency, this can be made up for in advertising revenue. In addition, the ability to display aesthetically pleasing ads may make the integration of solar panels into day-to-day areas more attractive to investors.
Their design uses an adhesive film made of a thermoplastic material developed for outdoor applications. The R&D efforts focused on sustainability, prioritising recyclability alongside performance. The solar screen technology is still under development and has a “level-six technology readiness level” (TRL 6). The TRL measures the maturity of technology components in a system and is based on a scale from one to nine, with nine representing the most mature technologies for full commercial application.
The company manufactured the final product and is now ready to commercialise it in Canavese, near Turin, northern Italy. It hopes to raise another €450,000 via new funding rounds. It said it is currently implementing the first pilot projects.
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