SolarGaps - Energy generating solar smart window blinds

Project Information

SolarGaps

Grant agreement ID: 791411

DOI 10.3030/791411

Project closed

EC signature date 30 November 2017

Start date 1 November 2017

End date 28 February 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost € 71 429,00

EU contribution € 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SOLARGAPS LLC
Ukraine

Project description

Produce green energy with smart solar blinds

Buildings are responsible for more than a third of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy by the end of 2020. To meet this requirement and address the increasing cost of electricity, many households and businesses are looking to invest in private solar photovoltaic electricity and shadowing systems. However, this is not an option without sufficient roof or land area. The EU-funded SolarGaps project has developed the first window blinds that automatically track the sun and generate electricity from its energy. Its priority now is to complete the technological and commercial development of the B2B smart solar blinds system and bring the product to market.

Objective

With the constant growth of population in the world, the demand for electricity is rising. The biggest electricity consumers are buildings. In EU heating and cooling in the buildings and industry accounts for 50% of the EU’s total energy consumption. However, generating electricity from conventional sources of energy increases the greenhouse effect and escalate the environmental problems on Earth. One of the existing solutions to these problems are alternative sources of energy, in particular, solar. However, the existing solar solutions have several problems: solar panels are too expensive and can be mounted only on the roof or flat surfaces, and billions of city residents don't have access to roofs, or private land. Energy generation from vertical surfaces (such as solar window technology) is still on prototyping stage and has low efficiency. SolarGaps came up with the innovative solution – the company developed first in the world solar smart window blinds – a device that combines a shading appliance (venetian blinds) with solar panels, which allows generating electricity for further storage or use, as well as protecting the room from overheating, and the windows from poor weather conditions. The electricity, generated with SolarGaps, will allow to reduce external electricity consumption by up to 70% To ensure successful commercialization, in Phase 1 of SME Instrument, SolarGaps intends to develop an elaborate feasibility study for SolarGaps blinds commercialization that would include a thorough market research, dealership network development, a business plan with an extensive financial, pricing, and IPR strategy. This will help the company to have a more detailed vision of the target markets, improve the design and features of the product to meet the users’ needs, build quality business partnerships, and tailor pricing & sales strategies to capture the biggest market share possible.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• engineering and technology › environmental engineering › energy and fuels › renewable energy › solar energy
• engineering and technology › electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering › electrical engineering › power engineering › electric power generation
• natural sciences › computer and information sciences › software › software development
• social sciences › economics and business › business and management › business models
• engineering and technology › electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering › electronic engineering › control systems › home automation

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Programme(s)

• H2020-EU.3.3. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy Main Programme
• H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
• H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument

Topic(s)

• SMEInst-09-2016-2017 - Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for a low carbon and efficient energy system

Call for proposal

H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-SMEINST-1-2016-2017

Funding Scheme

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

Coordinator

SOLARGAPS LLC

• Net EU contribution: € 50 000,00
• Address: 1A/2 MAHNITOHORSKA STREET ; 02606 KYIV ; Ukraine
• SME The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed. Yes:
  Activity type
  Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
• Activity type: Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
• Total cost: € 71 429,00