Photovoltaic living lab reaches the 100 Megawatt-hour mark
Blick auf die Solarfassade des Reallabors. © HZB
About three years ago, the living laboratory at HZB went into operation. Since then, the photovoltaic facade has been generating electricity from sunlight. On September 27, 2024, it reached the milestone of 100 megawatt-hours.
Solar facades offer untapped potential for generating clean electricity. How much they actually deliver and which environmental factors play a role are being studied at HZB's real laboratory. The facade elements installed there have now reached the 100-megawatt-hour mark.
This amount of energy is enough to supply a four-person household in Germany with clean electricity for 30 years. At HZB, the electricity generated by the laboratory’s solar facade is used entirely on-site, which makes the facility particularly economical. According to initial estimates, the additional costs compared to a conventional facade have amortized after 18 years.
What is the Living Lab?
It is a research building on the BESSY II location in Berlin-Adlershof equipped with a photovoltaic facade. A total of 360 frameless, blue-coated modules were installed on the south, west, and north facades of the building. Particular emphasis was placed on ensuring the solar facade elements are aesthetically pleasing.
The living laboratory is equipped with 120 measuring points and sensors for monitoring among others temperature, solar radiation and ventilation. This allows the behavior of the solar modules and the entire PV facade system to be evaluated under different seasonal and weather conditions over a long period.
Findings contribute to the building-integrated photovoltaics advisory service
These insights directly contribute to advisory services, benefiting society as a whole. HZB operates the independent advisory service for building-integrated photovoltaics (BAIP). Experts provide advice to architects, builders and urban planners on technologies, products, design options, technical feasibility, and legal frameworks.
- Nanosilver as an electrocatalyst for CO₂ reductionVia electrolysis, CO2 can be reduced to CO, a raw material for further chemical products such as fuels. Within the GreenQuest Project, an internation team led by HZB chemist Prashanth Menezes has now systematically investigated catalyst layers made of silver nanoparticles, varying both the size of the particles and their density. The best yield was achieved with nanoparticles with diameters of around 10 nm, which were loosely distributed. Furthermore, they demonstrated how the economic efficiency of the electrochemical cell can be enhanced by integrating an additional chemical reaction at the anode, enabling the simultaneous production of a valuable formic acid, hydrogen, and CO in one device.
- New technique could make MRI more preciseA team of researchers at the University of Stuttgart and HZB has developed a new method that could make MRI even more precise by eliminating “dead time,” a key limiting factor in the measurement process, thereby enabling the detection of signals that are lost using conventional methods. This method opens up new possibilities for medical diagnostics and non-destructive materials testing. The research team presents the new approach in Science Advances.
- Marcel Risch has been appointed Professor at the Freie Universität BerlinMarcel Risch was appointed to a W2-S professorship in the Department of Physics at Freie Universität Berlin in August 2026. His research group has been transformed into the department 'Mechanisms of Sustainable Electrocatalysis'. Risch investigates the fundamental mechanisms of electrocatalytic reactions and, on this basis, develops knowledge- and data-driven strategies to improve electrocatalysts for the sustainable production of hydrogen, fuels and chemicals.