Solar panels disguised as ancient Roman tiles or terracotta bricks to match the city skyline is one of the innovative solutions adopted by the archaeological park of Pompeii, paving the way for an inspiring model: turning architectural constraints into assets, boosting heritage and sustainability.
Every year over 3.5 million tourists visit Pompeii to admire the ruins left by the eruption of Vesuvius that, in 79 AD, engulfed it. Whilst visiting the ancient site, it's safe to say that no visitors will have seen the solar panels on the magnificent House of Cerere.
"They look exactly like the terracotta tiles used by the Romans, but they produce the electricity that we need to light the frescoes," says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. This solution is part of a more comprehensive strategy to turn costs into savings opportunities and to embrace sustainable development.
"Pompeii is an ancient city which in some spots is fully preserved. Since we needed an extensive lightning system, we could either keep consuming energy, leaving poles and cables around and disfiguring the landscape, or choose to respect it and save millions of euros."
Technically called "traditional PV tiles", the invisible solar panels used in Pompeii come from Camisano Vicentino, a little Italian town halfway between Padua and Vicenza. They were created and patented by the family business Dyaqua.
The traditional PV tiles are made from a polymer compound, which allows the sun's rays to filter through. The photovoltaic cells are then integrated into it by hand and covered with a layer of the polymer compound. "We can also give it the look of stone, wood, concrete, and brick. As a result, such a solution can be installed not only on roofs but also on walls and floors," says Elisabetta Quagliato, a member of the family.
Dyaqua's clients are mainly local councils, owning assets that are subject to artistic or architectural constraints. Approved by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the traditional PV tiles will soon be used in Rome's renowned museum of contemporary art, Maxxi. In the coming months, they will also cover the roofs of some public buildings in Split, Croatia, and Evora, Portugal. Together with Alkmaar, in the Netherlands, the Portuguese city is one of the demo sites that are testing innovative solutions aimed at combining sustainability with preserving the intrinsic qualities of architectural and cultural heritage, within the European project POCITYF.
The tiles are hand made and, therefore, more expensive than the usual, ugly PV tiles we've all got used to seeing. But at least it's a cause for optimism that the future of solar tiles does not have to be relentlessly dreary or, even, visible.