Onyx Solar realises one megawatt photovoltaic facade

09/02/2021 | Print view

Here is what he refurbished facade of the Sterling Bank will look like. - © Onyx Solar — © Onyx Solar

Here is what he refurbished facade of the Sterling Bank will look like.

Spanish BIPV specialist Onyx Solar is building a giant solar facade as part of the refurbishment of the Sterling Bank headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. This is already the second lighthouse project in Africa that the company is implementing.

The Spanish project developer of building-integrated photovoltaic systems, Onyx Solar, will install a giant solar facade in the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos. In the course of the renovation of the Sterling Bank headquarters in Nairobi, Onyx will install a total of 3,250 crystalline solar modules in the facade. The power plant, with an area of 6,500 square metres, will achieve a power of about one megawatt.

Solar skylight in Nairobi

With this project, Onyx Solar is not only implementing a lighthouse-project with a view to sustainable building renovation. The company is also taking a further step towards developing the market for BIPV in Africa. Onyx has been active there for some time. The company has already realised a showcase project in Kenya’s capital Nairobi. There, semi-transparent modules were used to transform the roof of the I&M Bank into a solar skylight. To do this, the project planners from Onyx inserted 2,200 square metres of modules with amorphous silicon as the semiconductor and with varying degrees of transparency into the roof.

Microsoft gets solar building envelope

Nairobi will also be the site of Onyx Solar’s next BIPV project. There, the software company Microsoft is planning the renovation of its branch office, whereby the building envelope is also to be solar-activated. (mfo)