PV Fire Protection
Flame-retardant material systems for safe building-integrated photovoltaics
Projektpartner
- Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, Coordinator
- Lenzing Plastics GmbH & Co KG
- Sonnenkraft GmbH
Motivation and Goals
The integration of photovoltaics into buildings and infrastructure plays a key role in achieving national and European climate targets. Rooftops and façades offer a large untapped potential for renewable energy generation. However, the widespread adoption of building-integrated photovoltaics is often limited by fire safety requirements. In particular, high-rise buildings and safety-critical facilities require solutions that meet strict building regulations and safety standards.
The PV Fire Safety project addresses this challenge by developing innovative materials and module designs with improved fire performance. By integrating flame-retardant additives, non-combustible materials, and optimized module structures, the project aims to create PV modules that provide significantly enhanced fire safety while maintaining the performance, reliability, and manufacturability required for modern photovoltaic systems.
Main Goals
The primary goal of the project is the development and validation of photovoltaic modules with improved fire safety for building-integrated applications. Key objectives include:
- Development of halogen-free flame-retardant encapsulation materials for PV modules
- Integration of non-combustible materials and functional fillers to improve fire behavior
- Reduction of combustible polymer layers within the module structure
- Ensuring electrical performance, processability, and long-term reliability of the modules
These approaches aim to enable PV modules that do not produce flaming droplets during combustion, achieve high fire classifications, and remain compatible with industrial manufacturing processes.
Objectives and Approach
The project begins with the identification and selection of suitable flame-retardant additives and non-combustible materials that can be integrated into typical encapsulation polymers used in PV modules. Based on these materials, new formulations will be developed and processed into encapsulation films.
These materials will then be integrated into photovoltaic modules and laminated under realistic production conditions. The resulting test modules will undergo extensive characterization, including electrical performance measurements, mechanical load testing, and accelerated aging and reliability tests.
Finally, the developed solutions will be evaluated in terms of fire safety, environmental compatibility, and economic feasibility. The goal is to create safe and sustainable PV module solutions that facilitate the deployment of building-integrated photovoltaics in urban environments and enable new areas of application.
“By developing photovoltaic modules with improved fire safety, we aim to enable the safe and widespread use of building-integrated photovoltaics. Our goal is to create innovative material solutions that meet the highest safety standards while maintaining the performance and sustainability of modern PV technologies. In doing so, we contribute to the energy transition and strengthen the competitiveness of the European photovoltaic industry.”
Funding Body
The PV industrial façade project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund (Energy Research Program 2023 represented by the FFG (project number FO999931161) as funding body.
