In a nutshell
The Ticon building in Drammen was originally built in the 1960s and has in the meantime gained a protected status for its appearance. For the renovation of this building, the goal was to drastically reduce the net energy consumption of the building whilst conserving its appearance. The facade ended up providing 80% of this energy reduction and the Ticon building is now energy-positive (it generates more energy than it uses) whilst its appearance is indiscernible from before the renovation (it is a bit cleaner now, though!). The facade skin combines colored solar panels in the spandrels with ColorBlast® from Kameleon Solar and quadruple glazed electrochromic glass from ChromoGenics to achieve this energy reduction.
Details
Modernizing a monument
Chromogenics SE was commissioned to deliver its ConverLight™ Dynamic Glass Norsk Hydro for this renovation project. The 1960s building, owned by real estate company Ticon Eiendom, had a high energy consumption. To make the building energy-neutral, various measures needed to be taken, including the installation of 4-layer insulating glass (quadruple glazing) with the innovative ConverLight™ principle, which makes it possible to actively control the heat and light transmission. This not only results in energy savings, but also in a decrease in maintenance costs and an increase in comfort.
Working together
In order to make the facade not only energy-saving, but also energy-generating, Chromogenics searched for a supplier that could provide PV panels in virtually the same color and size as the current facade panels and found us, Kameleon Solar, in the Netherlands. Together we searched for the best solution in both technology and time. ColorBlast® active panels are used as colored PV spandrels in the east, south and west facades. The northern facade was fitted with passive elements, in total approx. 74 square meters (dummies). This results in an optimization between costs and revenue, without compromising on aesthetics. The facade elements were pre-assembled in aluminum frames by FacadeConsult, after which they were mounted per facade (east, west, south, north).
Historical status
It was a challenge to fit as many cells as possible within the available dimensions. There was an interplay between the wishes of the architect, regulations that determined the facade had a historical status, the available space within the frame (important for the position junction box) and the required distance from the solar cells to the edge of the panel. Ultimately, a compromise was reached in which the number of cells per square meter and therefore the yield was optimized.