Heliatek deploys with Kandil Steel its first large BIOPV project on African continent 

Dresden, Germany – 23 June 2016 – Heliatek has implemented, with its partner Kandil Steel, its first Building integrated Organic Photovoltaic (BIOPV) pilot project in Africa. HeliaFilm®, Heliatek’s organic solar film, is at the core of this installation in Egypt, which represents a first test project for further steel applications by Kandil Steel.

“I am happy that we are progressing on our global roll out,” states Thibaud Le Séguillon, CEO of Heliatek. “It is a key step forward in our strategy of providing de-centralized energy generation solutions used directly on buildings all over the world.”

The project was funded and managed by Kandil Steel, the leading steel provider in Egypt. The company is working on new solutions for distributed energy generation because of rising energy prices and declining government subsidies. The company plans to establish the combination of its steel panels with HeliaFilm® as a new product for the BiPV market.

Egypt’s hot and sunny weather conditions are ideal for HeliaFilm® due to its excellent high temperature performance, leading to outstanding energy harvesting results. Moving to renewable energy sources is inevitable and this is supported in Egypt by both the government and Community. Moreover, this project emphasizes Kandil’s vision to provide innovative solutions to its customers as well as keeping its responsibility towards the Environment.

In this installation, the HeliaFilms® have a custom length of 2.5m and are combined with steel as an integrated building material. Kandil Steel has chosen opaque and blue HeliaFilm®. The development of HeliaFilm® is carried out by Heliatek in Dresden, Germany and the target is to establish a high volume manufacturing line by 2018.

Kandil was founded in 1865, starting by manufacturing manual agricultural machinery. Passing through several phases, Kandil focused on flat steel in the 1950s and became a genuine steel player in building the Egyptian industries. Moving on in the 1990’s, Kandil started its industrial activities with a modern Steel Service Center, followed by up-stream integration to build the first Cold Rolling and Coating Complex, and acquired Galva Metal in 2007 to become the leading re-roller and coater in Egypt. Kandil built its name as a reliable Cold Rolled, Galvanized & Coated flat steel supplier in both the European and Middle Eastern markets. The company’s current production capacity is about 600,000 tons/Year, almost 40% of which are dedicated to export.

Heliatek is a leader in the field of Organic Electronics Energy, holding the world record efficiency of 13.2%. Through both its leading edge material development and its proven capability for volume manufacturing, Heliatek is the first company to begin commercialization of large area OPV solar film.  Its business model is to supply the custom-designed HeliaFilm® to partners in industries such as building and construction materials, automotive and light architectural structures.  Heliatek maintains a total staff of some 85 specialists at its facilities in Dresden and Ulm, Germany.

Investors in Heliatek include leading industrial and financial companies such as BASF, Innogy Venture Capital, Wellington Partners, eCapital and Aqton SE. Research and development work, as well as the installation of production technology, have been funded by the Free State of Saxony, the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union.