Meet a Member: TVP Solar, harvesting the sun for thermal energy

TVP Solar, founded in 2008 by Piero Abbate and Vittorio Palmieri, designs, develops, manufactures and markets innovative solar thermal panels. Less notorious than photovoltaic panels, solar thermal panels are also a very efficient alternative to fossil fuels. The main difference of solar thermal technologies over PV is that they produce energy by capturing the heat from the sun and use it for heating or the production of electricity, instead of converting the sun’s radiation directly to electricity.

Solar thermal panels are not new. What makes TVP Solar’s technology so innovative is that their panels are under vacuum. “Our panels have no gas inside them, allowing them to be much more efficient and reliable for a period of 25 years, requiring very little maintenance” explains Jonathan. Their technology was recently certified internationally as the world's best performing solar thermal collector by Din Certco Solar Keymark. 

Once mainly used for heating buildings and swimming pools, solar thermal energy is now entering the industrial world, TVP’s main target. Heating industrial processes, water desalination or supplying air conditioning are just a few examples of how their products can be used. 

Now that their products are fully operational, the team is speeding up on their industrialization and commercialization. So far, their biggest project has proven very successful. Since 2017, TVP Solar’s panels supply air conditioning to the new Agility headquarters in Sulaibiya, Kuwait. "TVP has proven itself a game-changer," exclaimed Mr. Piero Abbate, TVP's CEO, in a recent press release about the Kuwaitian project. "Our super-performing panels predictably deliver massive thermal energy for the most energy-consuming applications, even in harsh environments like the Gulf" he added. Not only did TVP provide a clean solution, but they also had a big impact on the company building’s operational cost by providing a much cheaper alternative to fossil fuel based electricity. “At the end of the day, if you want industrials to use your product you have to prove that your solution is cheaper” says Jonathan Koifman. “This is why we became members of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions. We share the same vision of profitability and ecology.”

The company, which has already raised CHF 53M, plans on reaching CHF 10M by 2019. An ambitious plan, but Jonathan is confident “the market size is gigantic” he says.