Fiat enters solar-panel development deal

The ’Smartop’ project is a €3m (£2.5m) European Commission-funded research project under the FP7 RTD programme.

Under the terms of the deal, the consortium has begun working with the Centro Richerche Fiat (CRF) − the innovation and research arm of the car manufacturer − on the development of what is described as a smart roof that will incorporate low-cost photovoltaic (PV) cells and lithium batteries, which will in turn be used to power on-board devices in cars.

The Solar Energy Engineering group, led by Prof K Ravi Thampi at the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, is leading the UCD element of the Smartop project.

’The continued depletion of the world’s fossil fuels means that power-hungry industries have become compelled to look at alternative sources of energy to power their products. The auto industry is a perfect example of this, with manufacturers looking at forms of energy other than petrol that can be used in cars. The Smartop project is truly a revolutionary step forward for the automotive sector,’ said Dr Mazhar Bari, a physics graduate from University College Dublin, who founded Solarprint with two colleagues.