Hello I am John Morello the Co-Founder of Freesuns. I am an Engineer from Sydney Australia now living and working in Switzerland since 2010, so for the past 14 years. My renewable energy journey started when together with my wife Deborah Learoyd, also Co-Founder of Freesuns, and I purchased in 2014 a Mid-Century Modern architecturally designed house set amongst the vineyards near to Lausanne. The house was desperately in need of a new roof. We realised immediately the dilemma…to produce solar energy sufficient to provide for the house, electric car/s and give energy to the grid for other homes. Traditional solar panels would have ruined the architectural integrity of our home.
Being an engineer and passionate about green technologies I wanted to solve the problem. Which I am drawn to and motivated even more if the problem is complex and tackles climate change. In 2014 I designed a solar tile which could be a direct replacement for traditional roof tiles. The final result was outstanding. The new roof generated over 20 MWh per year of energy, exceeding our total annual household energy consumption, providing sufficient energy for multiple electric cars and giving energy back to the grid.
Freesuns was born.
What was your original motivation to become a researcher/project manager?
For sure it is curiosity combined with an incredible opportunity to see how far we can reach, how high and how far we can fly with Matrix Shingling technology and cutting edge automated European based manufacturing. I also love to think and execute on a large scale and Sphinx had a bold and big vision which attracted Freesuns to the Sphinx project immediately I read the brief. Can we take the stunning Matrix Shingling Technology and develop a European based manufacturing pilot line that drives down the cost to manufacture Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) down to a cost that is comparable to Asia + Transport. Or dare we dream even bigger to drive the cost to below!
The SPHINX project brief was perfect fit for Freesuns and the Freesuns team is exceptional motivated to by a part of this very ambitious, exciting and innovate BIPV project.
What is your (main) research area today?
My main research for the SPHINX project is R&D working closely with our Engineering and Product Management teams to design a new Freesuns Matrix Shingle Solar roof tile that will allow an easy manufacture in quantity on the SPHINX pilot line. I am also involved in assessing and developing automated solar manufacturing automation solutions which can then be simulated to assess viability for both SPHINX and large scale manufacturing. There is an emergence in the world of AI based industrial automation simulation software platforms that we are exploring within Sphinx. If we play our cards correctly we should be able simulate both a manual and an automated solution to then select which path we take with the Sphinx Pilot Line.
What is the main focus of your team in SPHINX?
Once the Freesuns Matrix Shingle Solar roof tiles are manufactured the Freesuns team will project manage, install, deliver and commission the SPHINX manufactured Solar Tiles, which will be approximately 5000 Matrix Shingled Solar Roof Tiles onto four Freesuns Demonstration roofs and one vertical Facade all in the western region of Switzerland. The Freesuns team will support all the Sphinx partners particularly when there are complex problems that arise that needs a team approach to solve.
Could you describe your favourite moment/satisfaction when working for the project and – more in general – for your organization?
We had a great example of team work when a complex problem arose early in the SPHINX project where we needed to design and then have manufactured a custom screen printed TOPCON Solar Cell. The SPHINX team rallied and we were able to prepare a new detailed design. Then the Sphinx team delved into and the teams PV network to open a production slot for the new SPHINX TOPCON cell. During July the 70’000 cells have been manufactured and we think this SPHINX designed TOPCON Cell will yield multiple wins.
How do you expect SPHINX results will affect your organization and the PV sector?
After a visit to M10 and F-ISE in late 2022 it was clear the matrix shingling technology would be a very good fit for use in Freesuns solar tiles. It would negate the need to completely redesign the Freesuns solar tile library every time there is a solar cell size change. The matrix shingling technology will give Freesuns solar tiles greater shading resilience and a beautiful cell matrix without any silver lines whilst providing better efficiency and higher energy generation capabilities. We are passionate supporters of the concepts of automated and flexible manufacturing in Europe which will help us reach for a very ambitious goal of democratising our Solar Roof Tiles to make them available to anyone who wants to add clean beautiful, sustainable power generation to their home without compromising the architectural integrity of their building.
Which partner would you like to nominate next for this coffee break?
We are moving into a very exciting phase of Sphinx and we would like to nominate Torsten Rößler from F-ISE for the next Coffee Break!
