Solar Window Facade

This exciting project was borne from the Yarra City Council’s participation in the Melbourne  Renewable Energy Project (MREP). MREP is an initiative that pools the financial resources of local governments, institutions, universities and corporations. These pooled resources serve as sufficient purchasing power and credit strength for developers to construct large scale renewable energy projects. This initiative has been a great success. As part of this initiative, Yarra City Council has been using 100% renewable energy since the 1st January 2019. 

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Leeson Solar was contracted to design and install an 8.72kW Building Integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system as a window facade on a 6-floor residential building. BIPV is becoming increasingly common amongst solar installations for its unrivalled aesthetics. Unlike traditional solar panels, BIPV doesn’t require a separate mounting system or roof penetrations; it functions as both a PV system and the outermost layer of the building. In this case, thin-film panels were used to create a BIPV facade. Leeson Solar designed a unique solution incorporating Solibro frameless 140-watt modules, built as a custom curtain wall in a Victorian manufacturing facility and then mounted onsite to the façade of the building.

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This gave the façade a clean and uniform aesthetic, ultimately making the installation blend with the building to the point it is not recognisable as a solar array. The system was designed and installed by Leeson Group, with the thin-film panels manufactured in Victoria.

As with all Leeson Solar projects, our in house engineering team provide installation teams and glazing contractors with detailed engineering and layout drawings. This ensures the construction and installation are seamless, and the continuity of quality throughout the entire installation is achievable.

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SMA STP5.0 - 3 AV - 40 and SMA SB4.0 - 1AV - 40 were chosen for this installation. Leeson Solar only uses quality industry-leading inverters from SMA (Germany) and Fronius (Austria). Their ease of installation and commissioning, simplicity of monitoring, and bullet-proof nature make them ideal for all PV systems.

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