In collaboration with JEC
CEA et Roctool_panneaux solaires _Les Echos
Roctool_LesEchos
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Roctool and the CEA: Lighter Solar Panels
Since 2022, the company and the research institute, both based in Bourget-du-Lac in Savoie, have been working on manufacturing photovoltaic panels made from composite materials.
Florian Espalioux
Correspondent in Grenoble
Innovation moving toward industrialization… Since 2022, teams at the National Institute of Solar Energy (Ines) — attached to the Innovation Laboratory for New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials (Liten) of the CEA in Grenoble — have been manufacturing photovoltaic panels using new composite materials. These are expected to produce simpler equipment with longer lifespans.
Currently, solar panels are most often made of a silicon cell core, protected in particular by glass plates. This casing significantly increases the overall weight and limits their uses, for example on fragile roofs. The composite-based panels promise to lighten the assembly and make photovoltaics easier to recycle, while enabling specific shapes or properties other than flat and rectangular panels. A prototype solar car hood, developed with Stellantis, was exhibited at CES in Las Vegas in 2023.
“A first feasibility study was conducted on the use of induction thermocompression for shaping photovoltaic modules and integrating bio-based materials or thermoplastics for their encapsulation,” explains Eszter Voroshazi, head of the photovoltaic modules and systems department at the CEA. The second phase was designed in an induction thermocompression system, leading to the filing of a patent.
Although the research institute wishes to keep the process details confidential, the machine was developed in collaboration with Roctool, a specialist in mold heating and cooling technologies for plastics and composites. The program Easy Poc of the Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes region, which aims to encourage synergies among local players, also contributed to this collaboration.
Integration into Vehicles
“We are not solar specialists; we work more for sectors such as automobiles or the general public,” says Matthieu Boulanger, CEO of this industrial company with about fifty employees, also based in Bourget-du-Lac. “Collaborating with CEA teams was therefore an opportunity. Our technology enables rapid thermal cycling of molds to transform ultra-resistant composite materials.”
“The transformation of these materials requires higher temperatures than those achievable with traditional laminators,” adds the CEA researcher. The installation of the industrial prototype equipment on the Ines technology platform took place in 2024. It allows temperatures above 250°C to be reached at a pressure of 6 bars. “Moreover, induction heating proved particularly well suited to combine high-speed production with a significant reduction in electricity consumption.”
After qualifying the equipment and adapting the process over the past two years, the institute now believes it has demonstrated its ability to integrate these new materials. A “significant step forward” that should enable new applications, particularly in mobility, for integration into vehicles.
“The next step is to find an integrator partner for these photovoltaic modules to co-develop a future product,” concludes Eszter Voroshazi.
A patent has been filed for induction thermocompression equipment.
Photo L. Godart / CEA
