Revolutionizing Renewable Energy with Lumiton Solar's Innovative Solutions

The growth of renewable energy is creating a new challenge: finding practical places to generate electricity close to where it is needed.

Rooftops and conventional solar farms will continue to provide a large share of photovoltaic capacity. But they cannot solve every installation problem. Some roofs have structural or shading limitations. Some sites cannot dedicate large areas exclusively to solar generation. Other locations require electricity for infrastructure that is far from a convenient grid connection.

These constraints are creating opportunities for new photovoltaic configurations, including vertical solar systems.

Lumiton Solar is developing compact vertical photovoltaic structures designed to extend solar generation into locations where conventional installations may be difficult or impractical.

Renewable energy needs more than one solar architecture

There is no single ideal way to install photovoltaics.

A warehouse with a large unobstructed roof may be well suited to conventional rooftop solar. A utility-scale project with inexpensive land may achieve excellent economics with tilted modules or single-axis trackers.

Other locations present different requirements.

A project may have:

• limited usable horizontal area;

• restrictions on roof loading;

• competing uses for the land;

• difficult maintenance access;

• high snow accumulation;

• a need for distributed electricity;

• demand for generation outside the midday peak; or

• requirements for additional infrastructure such as batteries, lighting or communications.

In these situations, vertical PV can provide another engineering option.

The important question is therefore not whether vertical solar is “better” than conventional solar.

The correct question is:

Which photovoltaic configuration best fits the site and the electricity requirement?

A real example: vertical solar where roof loading is constrained

Recent projects illustrate how this approach can work in practice.

In Hinwil, Switzerland, a vertical rooftop photovoltaic system was installed on a shopping centre using technology supplied by Norwegian vertical-solar developer Over Easy Solar.

According to the project developer, the installation has a capacity of approximately 155.6 kWp and uses 608 vertical PV units.

One of the key reasons for choosing the system was structural. The building had strict roof-weight limitations, and the supplier reports a system weight of approximately 12.4 kg/m².

This example is significant because the value of the technology was not simply “more solar output.”

It solved a site-specific engineering constraint.

That is an important way to think about innovation in photovoltaics. A technology can create value not only by increasing module efficiency, but also by enabling renewable-energy generation in places that might otherwise remain unused.

Bifacial technology expands the design possibilities

Many vertical photovoltaic concepts use bifacial modules, which can collect solar radiation from both sides.

Bifacial technology itself is no longer an experimental niche. The International Energy Agency's Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme reports that bifacial cells have become a major part of the global PV market.

However, the energy gained from the rear side of a bifacial module is highly dependent on installation conditions.

Ground reflectivity, known as albedo, is particularly important. Module height, spacing, shading and surrounding surfaces also influence performance.

Research from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has shown why detailed modeling is necessary: rear irradiance can change considerably depending on the ground surface and the geometry of the array.

For this reason, statements such as “bifacial panels generate X percent more energy” should be treated cautiously unless the installation conditions are specified.

The correct engineering approach is to model the expected performance of the complete system at the actual site.

Why the daily production profile matters

Vertical east-west photovoltaic systems also produce electricity differently from conventional south-facing tilted systems.

Instead of concentrating generation mainly around midday, an east-west vertical configuration can shift more output toward the morning and afternoon.

Researchers at Delft University of Technology have studied the economics of this effect using models of large bifacial PV farms.

Their research found that east-west vertical configurations can become more profitable than conventional tilted systems under certain conditions, particularly when electricity produced outside the midday period has greater economic value.

The result depends strongly on location, system design and electricity-market conditions.

This does not mean vertical PV always generates more electricity annually.

It means the value of solar electricity depends partly on when it is produced.

As solar penetration increases and midday generation becomes increasingly abundant in some electricity markets, this distinction may become more important.

Solar and agriculture can share the same site

Vertical photovoltaic installations are also being explored where land must retain another primary function.

Agriculture provides a leading example.

At Donaueschingen-Aasen in Germany, a commercial vertical agrivoltaic installation uses approximately 11,000 bifacial modules arranged in vertical rows across agricultural land.

The project has an installed capacity of approximately 4.1 MWp.

Wide spacing between module rows allows agricultural machinery and farming activity to continue, creating a form of dual land use.

Fraunhofer ISE is now investigating vertical agrivoltaic systems through its VAckerPower research program. The research evaluates not only electricity production but also operational reliability, crop-management requirements, ecological sustainability, land potential and social acceptance.

This is an important reminder that successful renewable-energy infrastructure must work with the surrounding environment and existing land use.

Renewable infrastructure can become multifunctional

Another opportunity for compact vertical solar systems is integration.

Photovoltaic generation can be combined with other infrastructure such as:

• battery storage;

• telecommunications equipment;

• EV charging;

• environmental sensors;

• lighting;

• security systems;

• monitoring and control equipment; and

• local or off-grid electrical distribution.

For remote locations or distributed infrastructure, combining several functions can reduce the need to build separate assets at the same site.

A vertical solar installation can therefore be considered not only as a photovoltaic structure, but potentially as an energy and communications node.

The exact configuration will depend on the application.

Applications for compact vertical solar

Potential applications include industrial facilities, agricultural sites, infrastructure corridors, commercial properties, public facilities and remote locations.

For residential and commercial projects, vertical systems may provide an alternative when roof modification is undesirable or technically constrained.

For infrastructure owners, vertical PV may make use of boundaries, corridors or distributed locations.

For agricultural projects, vertical layouts can allow electricity production while preserving substantial portions of the land for farming.

For remote communities and off-grid facilities, solar generation can potentially be combined with storage and communications infrastructure.

None of these applications should be assumed to be suitable without site evaluation.

Solar resource, shading, foundations, wind loads, snow loads, electrical connection, maintenance access, permitting, safety and project economics must all be assessed.

Where Lumiton Solar fits

Lumiton Solar's goal is to develop vertical solar systems that expand the range of locations where photovoltaic electricity can be considered.

This approach is complementary to conventional solar.

Large rooftop arrays, ground-mounted PV and tracking systems will continue to provide efficient renewable electricity wherever site conditions favour them.

Vertical solar becomes particularly interesting when the project has additional constraints: space, land use, structural limitations, seasonal generation, infrastructure integration or the need for distributed power.

The renewable-energy transition will not be built with one photovoltaic configuration.

It will require a portfolio of technologies designed for different environments.

Vertical solar is emerging as one of those options — supported increasingly by academic research, European demonstration projects and commercial installations.

For Lumiton Solar, the opportunity is to translate those principles into practical, modular energy infrastructure designed around the needs of each site.

Sources and further reading

International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme. Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules and Systems and Bifacial Tracking, Task 13.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Photovoltaic Bifacial Irradiance and Performance Modeling Toolkit.

Baricchio, M., Korevaar, M., Babal, P. & Ziar, H. (2024). Modelling of bifacial photovoltaic farms to evaluate the profitability of East/West vertical configuration. Solar Energy, 272, 112457. DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2024.112457.

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. VAckerPower: Vertical agrivoltaics in arable farming.

Next2Sun. Agri-Solarpark Donaueschingen-Aasen, Germany.

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