40 years on the grid – Europe's first photovoltaic system in Switzerland
Switzerland is not exactly the sunniest place in Europe. But Ticino does. It is therefore not surprising that the first photovoltaic system in Europe was connected to the public power grid there. That was in 1982. And the system with almost 300 modules and an area of almost 500 m2 is still running today – almost as well as it was back then. Then as now, with space technology. That means with solar / PV panels, which are also used for satellites.
Ticino Solare was installed on the roof of a technical college building near Lugano. On May 13, 1982, the south-facing facility supplied power to the grid. The installed power: 10 kWp. That was unusual at the time. Later the panels were transferred to another building.
The condition, quality, color and performance of the solar cells were regularly checked and measured. An investigation after 35 years of operation came to the conclusion that the cells are showing signs of wear – keywords are corrosion, burned areas (hot spots), cracks in the cells or defective connection cables. But: The majority of the modules still worked well and still delivered at least 80 percent of the power overall. Manufacturers of solar panels usually guarantee a service life of 25 to 30 years.
Energeiaplus asked Mauro Caccivio what makes TISO-10 special. Caccivio heads the photovoltaics laboratory at the Ticino University of Applied Sciences SUPSI. "It's absolutely amazing. Looking at the black and white photos from back then and considering the technological advances that have been made since then, you can understand how visionary the project was and how courageous the team behind it was. TISO was important for the subsequent massive spread of solar energy: right from the start of its industrial phase, photovoltaic technology was able to return the energy required for the production of solar modules to the power grid many times over. This is crucial to minimize the impact on the environment and nature, and this is even more true today given the tremendous evolution we are witnessing,