Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PLATIO (Innovative outdoor solar and kinetic energy harvesting pavement system)

Teaser

With the increasing energy consciousness, humanity needs to exploit waste energy as much as possible. Energy harvesting (EH) is the process by which minute amounts of energy from one or more of naturally-occurring energy sources are captured and stored. This energy can take...

Summary

With the increasing energy consciousness, humanity needs to exploit waste energy as much as possible. Energy harvesting (EH) is the process by which minute amounts of energy from one or more of naturally-occurring energy sources are captured and stored. This energy can take the form of vibration, temperature differences, light, or magnetic forces. One of the most promising technologies for harvesting energy from these sources is photovoltaic solar (solar PV) technologies. The socio-economic relevance of energy harvesting technologies is relatively straightforward, with an estimated market potential of EUR 3 billion in 2020.
Several technical solutions are being developed, experts on the field agree that there are still technical limitations to overcome, such as energy efficiency, connectivity to existing networks, environmental problems with the production of highly efficient materials, such as solar panels.

PLATIO from Innovatív Térburkolatfejlesztő Llc. is an unconventional, a primarily outdoor energy producing paving system and an alternate to usual pavements. Contrary to most of the applied pavements nowadays, PLATIO does not take material (such as stone, gravel, cement and wood) and energy from nature to build human environment, but uses the normally appearing garbage and energy. Consequently PLATIO is a paving platform made of recycled plastic. The planned product integrates different types of environmental friendly technologies such as solar panels to use the solar power. The units are compact and modularly connect together making electronic contact without additional wiring by a powerline communication system which connects automatically during the establishment.

PLATIO can be used for several scenarios from B2G to B2B solutions, such as smart city street applications or feeding EV chargers. Market validation results confirmed that PLATIO’s primary applications should be smart cities and digital environment in public spaces (B2G) as well as island mode operation energy source of electronic vehicle (EV) charger stations.

Our overall objective is to successfully commercialize PLATIO solar PV pavement system by 2018 and become a significant market player on the field of surface integrated smart energy harvesters and sensor systems in Europe. We used the SME Instrument Phase1 project to validate our international commercialization strategy in the form of a Feasibility Study investigating critical technical and market conditions before investing into a Phase2 innovation project.

Work performed

We executed the followings in Phase 1 project:

1. Technological feasibility study: as a part of the feasibility study we executed new trials and tested some potential technological solutions and features which could improve the performance or market value of our product.

2. Freedom to operate analysis: With the professional advisory and services of a European Patent Attorney we have prepared a novelty research and filed a patent application with 17 claims on structure, electronic solution and processes declared. Our objective is to protect our intellectual property on international level.

3. Validation and market study: During a series of interviews and negotiations with potential B2B and B2G customers we tested the market value of our technology. Several projects arrived to contracting status from these negotiations. Furthermore a clear picture of actual user needs was identified including technological requirements, requested applications and willingness to pay.
The conclusion of the validation is a product and market development strategy putting solar PV feature in focus for urban and island mode operation applications (e.g an energy source of EV charger stations). Smart functions are also requested in some special use cases of the technology.
The early adopters of PLATIO solar PV are identified as
- innovative companies with declared societal responsibility and initiatives for energy efficiency and environment protection
- organizations planning the installation of EV charging stations
- local governments, municipalities handling urban areas
- smart city project implementing organizations (GOs, NGOs)
During a market research we identified the key market drivers of PLATIO technology:
- the emerging global market of solar photovoltaic technologies experiencing 26% growth rate year-to-year;
- the rise of piezoelectric harvesting systems with expected CAGR of 4.88% between 2016 and 2022
- the revolution of plug-in electric vehicles, which are expected to reach a cumulative sales of 100 million units by 2030.
- R&D&I projects in the field of creating and installing energy harvesting roads and pavements.

4. Business plan development: During the Phase1 project we have created a comprehensive business plan and financial plan about the future of Innovatív Térburkolatfejlesztő Llc. and its product portfolio. The plan is detailing conditions, strategies, assumptions and calculations for the period of 2017-2022. The plan draws up a realistic roadmap how our company will become a stable SME from a typical start-up company. After PLATIO solar PV technology reaches success on the market, we will become an international company employing 100+ people in R&D, sales, operations and manufacturing areas.
Our business plans are ready and available for presentations to investors willing to join our organization towards global success.

5. Activity planning for phase 2: our company is built on disruptive technological innovation and international business ambitions which are in the focus of the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument program. After completing successfully the Phase1 project with promising results and valuable conclusions detailed in the Feasibility Study we are applying to Phase2 funding within the program.
During the Phase1 project we analysed our development and demonstration roadmap and prepared a workplan for a 24 months innovation project. Within the project we aim to implement demonstration and validation of our PLATIO solar PV pavement on different locations. We will also optimize our product and operation for mass-manufacturing and prepare the necessary quality control processes and environment protection and waste management policies.

Final results

PLATIO is a product made of a disruptive renewable energy production technology and recycled plastic frame; both having positive impact on environment and climate change. The optimal combination of solar PV and piezoelectrical power production PLATIO is the most powerful energy harvesting pavement product on the market.

PLATIO energy producing pavement also enables installing solar PV energy sources into urban areas where traditional solar panels would ruin the cityscape. Furthermore, the island mode operation solar PV energy harvesting solution contributes to enabling installation of electric vehicle charging stations on locations where conventional power grid is not available. These applications play a significant role in spreading solar PV energy harvesting technologies worldwide, contributing to the rise of solar energy usage ratio.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.platio.cc/en/.