As the planet warms at an unprecedented rate and the burning of fossil fuels continues to produce over 75 percent of global greenhouse
gases,
a successful global transition to renewable energy is one of the biggest and most pressing
challenges humanity has ever faced. While energy giants are gradually dipping
their toes into R&D for renewable solutions, an explosion of practical
innovations — particularly around solar technologies — has come from startups
including
BioLite
and Sunlit
Sea.
Now, UK-based solar energy company
SolarBotanic has joined the fray with its
reimagining of the traditional solar panel design — usually involving square,
blue panels which are either fitted on people’s roofs or neatly organised in
rows covering an expanse of land — into that of an aesthetically pleasing,
highly efficient Solar Tree. After five years of R&D, the company confirms that
the trees are ready to be mass-produced, at an affordable price, for commercial
use.
“Accelerated climate change is the result of our reliance on polluting fossil
fuels, and is one of the biggest threats to humanity,” Harry
Corrigan, founder and Executive
Chairman of SolarBotanic, told Sustainable Brands®. “A shift to net-zero
energy technologies is critical if we are to avoid catastrophe — our Solar Trees
help contribute to the much-needed net-zero system.”
Taking a cue from the way trees and their leaves move, the Solar Trees absorb
energy through flexible, leaf-shaped, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar cells
and have been engineered with thousands of microcircuits that are activated when
the sun shines. The company is exploring further use of nanotechnologies that
will allow future generations of the trees not only to convert light into
energy, but also wind — thanks to the stems and twigs that have been
incorporated into the design of the trees, which generate electricity when they
move.
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“Energy storage can be embedded in the tree and is charged in periods of
abundant renewable energy generation,” Corrigan explains. “The system can rely
on the energy stored to provide power when the sun and wind are not available.”
A mock-up of a Solar Tree in a town square | Image credit: SolarBotanic (video still)
The dome shape of the tree is designed to capture as much sunlight as possible,
whilst the space underneath allows for the area to still be used — for example,
to park a car, grow sciophilous (shade-loving) plants or provide shaded seating
areas.
The first-generation trees have been designed primarily for the rapid Electric
Vehicle
charging
market for homes, businesses and commercial car parks — where solar power can be
captured and stored at charging points. Aside from the initial EV charging
stations, SolarBotanic has a goal of making its trees available for homes —
anAI-driven Energy Management System incorporated into the design allows the
trees to be linked and form part of a local grid, or feed into the main grid.
“This feature helps to optimise energy storage and is crucial as we progress
towards a more electrified future,” Corrigan says.
As with all solar panels, the sunnier the climate, the more energy each tree
will produce. SolarBotanic is hoping to produce 3,400kWh of electricity per year
in London, from the first-generation solar tree — each of which has a
power-generation capacity of 5 kW.
“The amount of energy generated from each tree is dependent on where it is
‘planted,’ Some locations will produce more energy than others, which is
inherent to the way the technology works. For changing weather conditions, we
provide the option of having a battery embedded in the trunk of the tree for
energy storage to provide power at a later time,” Corrigan says. “For locations
where there is less potential to generate energy from the sun, the tree can be
easily coupled to other trees or conventional solar panels to increase the power
capacity.”
SolarBotanic trees have the capacity to supply a single household or can be
installed in areas where naturally growing trees would previously have been used
(i.e., along motorways, in suburban streets, parks, etc), and can make a
significant contribution to a national electrical grid. Just as thousands of
conventional solar panels can be connected to create a solar farm,
SolarBotanic’s trees can be ‘planted’ together to create solar forests.
SolarBotanic believes in the power of collaboration and is partnering with
companies — including EV charging providers, property developers, renewable energy
companies, public car park operators, service stations and homeowners’
associations — that share its values, mission and vision, in order to scale
smartly. The first SolarBotanic trees are expected to become available in early
2023.
Over the next five years, Corrigan says SolarBotanic will seek additional investment to further develop its
technology, so that it can come in a variety of shapes and forms — all to
continue its mission to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions while also
creating an aesthetically pleasing environment.
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Scarlett Buckley is a London-based freelance sustainability writer with an MSc in Creative Arts & Mental Health.
Published Dec 9, 2022 1pm EST / 10am PST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET