Solar Shade

Inside2Outside, based near Cambridge are one of the market leaders in the UK tensile membrane industry. Having specialised in providing canopies for schools, Inside2Outside now produce Tensile Membrane Structures combined with Photovoltaics.

Renewable Energy is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. Awnings for houses and garden canopies are becoming more commonplace; businesses such as pubs and restaurants also offer outdoor dining where the tables are covered by shade products such as umbrellas to protect their clients from the elements. With the shade market growing, providing a niche product which provides more than just shade benefits to a customer makes sense. Solar Panels offer one way of doing just this.

Combining tensile membrane structures with Solar Power is a natural combination for a number of reasons. With tensile membranes unique properties of preventing the suns UV rays from passing through, being able to harness the power of the sun from this has been something that has been desired for many years. Until recently, however, it has not been a realistic prospect. Solar Panels have traditionally been large, heavy objects which are far too weighty to apply onto shade products. Now, with the emergence of flexible solar panels – such as thin film silicon panels and even Organic Photovoltaics, combining shade products with Solar Power is a reality.

Thin Film products are lightweight and flexible in nature. Thus they are able to be adhered to awnings, canopies and other shade products without causing adverse effects on the structure of the canopies. The panels can be attached in a number of different ways. Therefore, you are able to create a shade structure that not only provides shade, but also generates free, clean electricity for the owner of the structure. The electricity produced can be used by the owner for their own use, or can be fed back into the national grid to generate an income. Solar shade is now becoming an increasingly attractive package as it offers additional benefits to a standard tensile membrane shade structure.

How does producing renewable energy through a shade structure bring an income? The Government announced in April 2010 the start of the Feed-In-Tariff scheme (FITs). The FITs are a 25 year Government guaranteed income scheme in which the Government pay producers of renewable energy for every kilowatt hour of energy they produce. Due to this, shade structures combined with photovoltaics are an even more attractive prospect because of this.

Traditional Solar Panels and Thin film panels have been made using Silicon. Silicon has many properties that mean it can harness power from the sun. These panels are effective when the sun shines directly on them. However, when the sun is not shining directly on the panels their effectiveness drops rapidly. With the British climate as it is, solar panels have struggled to be effective in the UK. However, the third generation of Solar Panels – Organic Photovoltaics – threatens to finally bring effective solar power in the UK.

Organic photovoltaics are carbon based, and rely on daylight rather than direct sunlight to generate electricity. Due to this characteristic, OPV will finally deliver Solar Panels that will be effective in the UK. What’s more, they are extremely thin, lightweight and flexible making them ideally suited to being on the roof of a shade structure. The OPV is so flexible that it can be spread across the entire roof of a tensile membrane structure, following the curves of the roof.

Schools, Hospitals, Restaurants, Coffee Houses and Pubs are just a few places where the demand for solar shade is growing, and where the structures are ideally suited to. The commercial industry, warehouses and all application wanting a roof that harnesses the power of the sun can benefit from a solar shade structure. With continuing advancement in the technology for Solar Panels – making them thinner, lighter and more capable of generating effective solar power, even in temperate climates – the solar shade industry in the UK is set to expand rapidly.