[L’industrie c’est fou] Nomadic solar panels inspired by origami

2023-05-17 05:30:00

The inventors of solar panels have not finished surprising us. After tile photovoltaic panels, those discreetly attached to clothing or even those made from vegetable waste, the Italian start-up Levante presents origami solar panels. Inspired by this ancestral Japanese art, this equipment bends. They are 1.5 meters long and 50 centimeters wide folded and 2 meters for 1.5 meters when unfolded. They are also light enough (half the weight of conventional modules) to be transported easily.

This invention provides access to renewable electricity wherever you are, which is very convenient for campers. This is what prompted Sara Plaga and Kim-Joar Myklebust, the creators of these solar panels, to found their company. Owners of a motorhome, the couple wanted to find a solution to supply renewable electricity to the electrical equipment located inside their vehicle.

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These solar panels deliver a maximum power of 500W when open and 100W when closed. A 300W version also exists. Made in Italy, they are notably made of recycled carbon fiber and monocrystalline silicon bifacial cells.

Sara Plaga and Kim-Joar Myklebust were also inspired by NASA to develop their panels. Indeed, the American space agency, through its Jet Propulsion laboratory and in partnership with Brigham Young University, developed in 2014 a foldable space solar panel that could equip satellites. Its designers also claimed that it would be able to send energy back to Earth using microwaves. But, almost ten years later, this innovation has still not reached space.