The Israeli photo voltaic vitality firm Apollo Energy that developed expertise turning surfaces into an vitality supply utilizing the solar’s rays, and is deployed by e-commerce big Amazon and German automotive producer Volkswagen, has opened a flagship manufacturing unit for the mass manufacturing of photo voltaic panels, which it says is the primary of its sort on the planet.
The ten,000 sq. meter facility, which was constructed at an funding of NIS 100 million ($30 million) to step up Apollo Energy’s manufacturing of versatile photo voltaic panels is positioned in Yokneam’s Mevo Carmel Science and Trade Park in Israel’s north.
The automated facility is predicted to achieve an annual manufacturing output of 1.5 million sq. meters in photo voltaic movie, or an annual capability of about 190 megawatts, which equals the common consumption of 35,000-40,000 households, the corporate mentioned.
Based in 2014 by CEO Oded Rosenberg and CTO Eran Mimon, Apollo has developed expertise for the manufacturing for versatile, light-weight, sturdy and high-efficiency photo voltaic movies that it says can flip any sun-kissed surfaces into energy-producing surfaces that generate electrical energy.
The photo voltaic panels are made for surfaces resembling on vehicles, vans, roofs and plane, that can’t help the load of glass photo voltaic panels. The dimensions of the fundamental unit of the photo voltaic movie is 12 sq. meters and weighs 3 kilograms per sq. meter.
Traded on the Tel Aviv Inventory Change since 2017, Apollo says its floating photo voltaic panels produce electrical energy on water surfaces, and are sturdy to waves, making them appropriate for quite a lot of marine automobiles and sails.
Apollo Energy CEO Oded Rozenberg holding a light-weight versatile photo voltaic panel. (Rami Zerenger/Courtesy)
“This modern and automated facility was in-built a 12 months and a half, using groundbreaking expertise we now have developed ourselves, in an effort to notice our imaginative and prescient of producing electrical energy from any floor uncovered to the solar. The potential is limitless,” mentioned Rosenberg. “The expertise of our versatile solar-film is especially appropriate for set up on mild roofs and water reservoirs and the automotive market.”
The opening of the power comes as Apollo final 12 months inked its first industrial deal within the world automotive market, with Germany’s Volkswagen industrial automobiles group. Below the phrases of the 10-year settlement, Apollo will provide Volkswagen with tens of 1000’s of photo voltaic sheets in a deal valued at €33 million (436 million). The photo voltaic vitality movies are anticipated to be integrated into Volkswagen car fashions ranging from July 2024.
Moreover, the corporate is collaborating 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 resembling 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,” Apollo mentioned.
In February final 12 months, Apollo received an order from Amazon to put in mild photo voltaic sheets on the roof of certainly one of its logistics facilities in France and to deploy its expertise on a 50-square-meter sidewalk on a substrate of recycled rubber to generate solar energy.
In September the corporate entered into an settlement to provide Tadiran Photo voltaic with versatile photo voltaic panels for a minimal amount of 26 megawatts. The deal is a part of an settlement for Tadiran to grow to be Apollo’s unique distributor within the mild roof market in Israel.
