Welcome to the latest 4PLAS newsletter, with the current rapidly rising costs of energy being front and centre on the news, only exacerbated by the terrible hostilities in Ukraine and the subsequent Russian sanctions we thought it opportune to highlight some commercialised applications for our materials in the green energy sector.
 
Solar energy is of course a key renewable energy source in the global fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, and even in the not so sunny UK, solar photo voltaic panels (PVs) now account for over 3% of all UK energy produced.
 
The panels themselves are installed either on rooftops or in ground arrays, both which, traditionally, requiring metal support systems, with relatively high fabrication costs sometimes involving secondary operations, that provide both structural support and the required dissipation of static electricity, and of course also long-term weather-ability. 

As part of the continued drive by the solar industry to lower costs, two 4PLAS grades, 4MID 9B22130 HUV BYW a 30% glass fibre, heat and UV stabilised, orange PA6 and 4TECH 9C22130 HUV CO BBK a 30% glass fibre, heat and UV stabilised, electrically conductive black Copolymer Polypropylene, have been approved by a solar panel provider, for support applications as cost down solutions versus the previously used more expensive metal fabrications.