The Israeli photo voltaic vitality firm Apollo Energy, which has developed know-how that turns right into a supply of vitality utilizing the solar’s rays, and has been despatched to e-commerce large Amazon and German automotive producer Volkswagen, has opened a headquarters manufacturing unit for the mass manufacturing of photo voltaic panels, which it says is the primary of its sort on the earth.
The ten,000 sq. meter facility, constructed with an funding of NIS 100 million ($30 million) to spice up Apollo Energy’s manufacturing of versatile photo voltaic panels is situated in Yokneam’s Mevo Carmel Science and Business Park in northern Israel.
The automated facility is anticipated to succeed in an annual manufacturing output of 1.5 million sq. meters of photo voltaic movie, or an annual capability of about 190 megawatts, which is equal to the typical consumption of 35,000-40,000 households. , the corporate mentioned.
Based in 2014 by CEO Oded Rosenberg and CTO Eran Mimon, Apollo has developed manufacturing know-how for versatile, light-weight, sturdy and high-efficiency photo voltaic movies that it says can flip any sun-kissed floor into vitality. -producing surfaces that generate electrical energy.
Photo voltaic panels are made for surfaces comparable to these on vehicles, vans, roofs and airplanes, which can’t help the load of glass photo voltaic panels. The dimensions of the fundamental unit of photo voltaic movie is 12 sq. meters and weighs 3 kilograms per sq. meter.
Listed on the Tel Aviv Inventory Alternate since 2017, Apollo says its floating photo voltaic panels generate electrical energy above water, and are proof against waves, making them appropriate for a wide range of marine automobiles and sail
Apollo Energy CEO Oded Rozenberg holding a light-weight versatile photo voltaic panel. (Courtesy Rami Zerenger)
“This new and automatic facility was in-built one and a half years, utilizing groundbreaking know-how that we developed ourselves, to appreciate our imaginative and prescient of producing electrical energy from any floor uncovered to the solar . The potential is infinite,” Rosenberg mentioned. “Our versatile solar-film know-how is especially appropriate for the set up of sunshine roofs and water reservoirs and within the automotive market.”
The opening of the ability comes as Apollo final 12 months signed its first business deal within the world automotive market, with Volkswagen’s business car group in Germany. Below the phrases of the 10-year settlement, Apollo will present Volkswagen with tens of hundreds of photo voltaic panels in a deal price €33 million (436 million). Photo voltaic vitality movies are anticipated to be included in Volkswagen car fashions beginning in July 2024.
As well as, the corporate has partnered with German automotive producer Audi to combine versatile and light-weight photo voltaic panels into the supplies that make up the roof of its electrical automobiles. Apollo additionally has initiatives with different automotive manufacturers comparable to Hyundai, Renault and Geely.
“The photo voltaic sheet generates electrical energy from photo voltaic vitality and helps to increase the driving vary of the automotive,” mentioned Apollo.
In February final 12 months, Apollo acquired an order from Amazon to put in gentle photo voltaic sheets on the roof of one in all its logistics facilities in France and deploy its know-how on a 50-square-meter sidewalk on a substrate that recycled rubber to generate solar energy. .
In September the corporate entered into an settlement to supply Tadiran Photo voltaic with versatile photo voltaic panels for a minimal amount of 26 megawatts. The settlement is a part of an settlement for Tadiran to change into the unique distributor of Apollo within the gentle roof market in Israel.
