SABIC and Solarge Launch New Solar Panels

SABIC and Solarge Develop New Solar Panels SABIC, one of the world's leading firms in the chemical industry, collaborated with Solarge, an innovative producer of circular lightweight solar panels, in the successful development of lightweight, circular photovoltaic (PV) panels. This partnership was showcased at the opening of Solarge's new manufacturing facility in Weert, Netherlands. SABIC PP & E4PS General Manager Lada Kurelec stated: "As part of our sustainability strategy to support the energy transition, SABIC prioritizes collaboration and innovation with sector leaders in their respective fields. We are proud to be a reliable partner for sustainable and inclusive growth and are pleased to work with Solarge on this important project toward the development of circular solar panels. We look forward to further developing this partnership and continuing our efforts to enhance sustainability through collaboration and innovation on the path to carbon neutrality." Solarge CEO Jan Vesseur said: "This new production line enables us to deliver the most sustainable solar panels at solid volumes and contributes to accelerating the energy transition in the most sustainable way possible. Our collaboration with SABIC in developing this product is very important to us and sets an example for implementation." SABIC collaborated with Solarge to develop a solar panel with a low carbon footprint made from SABIC® PP (polypropylene) compounds. Many building roofs cannot support the weight of current glass PV panels, but the SABIC PP compounds used in these solar panels achieve a reduction in weight ratio of more than 50%. Additionally, PV panels made with this material reduce carbon footprint by more than 25% and can be reused in their own production chains for up to 25 years. As customers in the commercial and industrial building segment seek lighter and more energy-efficient alternatives, these properties show high demand in industrial roofing applications. The first concept for lightweight, circular PV panels was developed and patented by SABIC and Solarge. In this collaboration with Solarge, SABIC developed differentiated polypropylene materials to ensure Solarge's lightweight solar panel met performance requirements. SABIC subsequently worked with Solarge on application development and testing of the concept, installation, and supported scaling of the product to industrial levels for market entry. The SABIC PP compounds used in these panels will be manufactured at SABIC's polypropylene compound facility in Genk, Belgium. As part of the project's next phase, SABIC installed 50 of these lightweight PV panels on the roof of this production facility in a pilot project. This marked the beginning of a full-scale rooftop installation of approximately 5,000 panels to take place over 2023. This project further demonstrates SABIC's commitment to directing the energy transition toward renewable energy both through material applications and by reducing the carbon footprint of production. Source