England-based Solar Cloth Company has created a lightweight photovoltaic fabric solar panel system that can operate pretty much anywhere. The company’s founder Perry Carroll, says that the system is currently being marketed for use on parking lots, rooftops and other places that traditional solar panels may not be practical for.
Carroll says that the company is teaming up with some high-profile clients to launch their project.
“We have built a growing sales pipeline worth £4.2m [about $6.57 million] for 2015, including park and ride projects, airport parking operators and retail park owners,” Carroll said.
According to the specifications of the equipment, a ten square meter portion of the cloth weighs about 7.3 pounds. This is extremely light-weight when considering that a traditional solar panel weighs roughly 35 to 48 pounds.
Another advantage to the Solar Cloth is that it is flexible, which adds to its versatility and ability to be installed pretty much anywhere.
“One of the main hindrances to solar panel adoption is that they can be difficult to install and integrate with existing architecture functionally and aesthetically. Flexible solar cloth overcomes all of these problems and can add real value to existing and upcoming sites,” Hans Haenlein, an adviser to The Solar Cloth Company said in a recent statement.
This year, the Solar Cloth won the Solar U.K. Industry Awards’ Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Solar Innovation.
John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.
