As the concept of net zero emissions becomes a trend, companies have shifted towards green manufacturing, aiming to grasp opportunities for renewable energy business. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) just announced that it worked with Ritek Group, Pontext Group, and Acelon Chemicals & Fiber to develop a new corrosion-resistant engineering plastic frame material suitable for solar panels in coastal PV plants.

As reported by the institute, the novel plastic frame material boasts high strength and high insulation as well as great environmental friendliness, recyclability, and corrosion resistance, which can extend the service life of solar panels installed along the coast.

Taiwan is striving for the goal of solar generation capacity of 20GW and renewable energy generation accounting for 20% by 2025. Achieving the goal allows Taiwan not only to facilitate power supply with diverse energy sources and green energy transformation but also to answer the call for green manufacturing in the global supply chain.

To effectively develop solar capacity, the government has actively built solar power systems along the island’s coast in recent years. However, conventional aluminum solar panel frames are susceptible to corrosion in an environment with high salinity. Lee Tzong-Ming, Vice President and General Director of Material and Chemical Research Laboratories of the ITRI, indicated that Taiwan is a suitable candidate for solar energy because of its high solar irradiance; nevertheless, developing durable and highly reliable materials for solar panels is crucial because such equipment is often exposed to weather conditions for prolonged periods of time.

Accordingly, the ITRI developed the first nylon engineering plastic material that is weather- and corrosion-resistant, which was then made into a frame for weather-resistant solar panels using innovative prototyping. Working with three suppliers (an upstream, midstream and downstream supplier each), the institute established an R&D alliance and prototype of an industrial value chain. The ITRI added that in addition to its high insulation and durability, the proposed plastic frame boasts a more environmentally friendly prototyping process compared with the extrusion process of conventional aluminum frames. After a solar panel is decommissioned, the attached plastic frame can even be recycled and reused.

The proposed engineering plastic frame composite has been approved by the national Voluntary Product Certification (VPC) and is now being subjected to an on-site experiment at Penghu. Taiwan is expected to establish more than 1 million sets of solar panels in coastal areas; therefore, the proposed plastic new material is likely to have a share in the thriving coastal solar energy market.

(Source of the first image [a schematic]: pixabay)